As the Sun Sets on Mushroom Clouds
by Rhino7
Summary: Like a building, a relationship like theirs takes years to build. And just like a building, it only takes one moment to cause it all to come tumbling down. A fire, a bomb, a tidal wave. Or, in Leon and Tifa's case, a deal, a lie, and Rinoa.
1. Unresolved

**As the Sun Sets on Mushroom Clouds**

**By Rhino7**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are Duke and Private Tabaeus McCallister. **

**Hark! I have finally written the first chapter and posted it! This first chapter may start out slow, but the ball starts rolling hard and fast soon! Also, there be mild spoilers for the Mercy Trilogy. Technically this story is set after that trilogy, but you don't have to have read it to understand this. If you haven't read that aforementioned Trilogy, the 'Project Stasis' references won't make sense, but it will be explained in later chapters.**

**Also, I'm presuming that most of you reading this have read **_**Good Enough for Me**_** and/or **_**These Lines of Lightning**_**. Again, not required to have read these, but you'll get the little jokes in here if you have. Enjoy!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter One: Unresolved**

_3:14 a.m._

Black knight to B4, takes white pawn.

_6:47 p.m._

White rook to F4, takes black bishop.

_1:19 a.m._

Black pawn to A4.

_8:32 p.m._

White knight to E5, takes black pawn.

_2.25 a.m._

Leon finished his coffee and set the mug in the sink. "I know, I know, I'm coming."

She looked impatiently at him and huffed.

Leon rolled his eyes and stepped out of the kitchen, "You realize it's 2:30 in the morning?"

She just turned around and headed to the door, not responding.

He turned off the sparing lights that he'd turned on when he got up and almost bumped into the couch as he walked past. He swallowed a curse. Stupid couch. He didn't bother telling her that he hated that couch. She knew already.

"Don't look at me like that." He said, taking the gunblade from its spot against the wall.

He had almost reached the door when he paused, back tracked a few steps, and leaned over the coffee table, narrowing his eyes at the brass chess board. Frowning for a brief moment, he reached down and moved the black queen to H5, taking the white bishop. He set the taken piece aside and straightened.

Satisfied with the move, he crossed back over to her and opened the door. "Can you at least try not to jump on every single person you see today?"

She gave him a look that said 'what fun is that?' and stepped outside first, leaving him to follow. Females. He grunted, stepping out into the hallway after her. The golden retriever was already halfway down the hall by the time he turned around.

"Duke." He called.

She stopped and looked back at him. Her tail swished once and her tongue lolled. _Hurry up, slowpoke, I want to walk! _She was practically screaming at him.

Shaking his head, Leon closed the door and locked it, walking after her.

"You were much more well behaved in Stasis." He grunted, catching up to her.

She yipped at him.

"Yeah, you're right. You weren't much better there." He ruffled the fur behind her ears and she licked his hand in return.

"Just…promise you'll behave today, okay?" They left the apartment complex of downtown Radiant Garden. "Or eventually Nestor WILL make this place a no-pet zone."

Duke bolted from his side, chasing after a group of children who had just left the bookstore.

Leon let her go. This was how he walked the dog. She ran, he watched, she terrorized, he shrugged off the terrorized, she ran, he caught up to her, and they went home. It was a good system.

The New Residential District of Radiant Garden was two weeks away from completion, and just a month away from being one hundred percent open to residence. The first block of houses had already been sold or bid on, and that first handful of families was in the process of moving in to their new homes. The first house to be purchased still stood empty, however.

It had been a slow process of moving out of the apartment and into the house. It seemed that Leon had barely gotten the notice that he and Tifa were now the owners of the house before business in Radiant Garden boomed. The prospect of a new residential district had spurred the development of a new industrial sect, as well as expanding current businesses to kick-start the world's economy after the long and drawn out war.

Honestly, he was still getting used to the fact. Sharing rent on a cramped apartment was one thing, but living together in a real house…Well, they weren't living there yet. They had barely started packing. In fact, he hadn't even seen Tifa properly in three days.

Hence the chess match.

It had been going for a while now, since demolition on the old Residential District started. The chess set was an old brass collection, and after cleaning up the pieces, he had absently left it out on the coffee table at their apartment. The next thing he knew, a piece had been moved. Tifa's opening move.

Leon hadn't thought anything of it and just moved one of the opposite pieces to counter her move. Sure enough, the next time he looked at it, another of her pieces had been moved. So the game went on. It was the only communication they had for the past two weeks, since missions had been piling up in Radiant Garden.

Speaking of, the sudden ringing of his phone indicated a possible new problem had cropped up. He sighed and pulled the phone out of his pocket, frowning at the number and then answering.

"What is it?" He greeted gruffly.

The static on the phone nearly made him recoil, and then Cid's voice came over, "Them damn Heartless broke through into Ansem's Study again."

Leon groaned and glanced over to where Duke was romping around the sidewalk. "How bad?"

"Bad enough. Tron did something fancy and amped up the Security System to drive 'em out, but it's still pretty sketchy down there." Cid said. "I need you to get over there and hold down the fort."

"Was Aerith over there when it happened?" He asked, snapping his fingers three times.

Duke straightened up at the sound, ears lifted, and then trotted over to him. Leon turned toward the old study. He picked up his pace slightly. Aerith could hold her own in a tight spot, but the way the Heartless gang-attacked that study…

"No. She's here at Merlin's with me. Are you close?"

"I'm heading to the study now." Leon said, keeping a hastened pace anyway.

With Yuffie and Tifa off-world on a mission and Cloud…wherever it was that Cloud went…it was up to Leon to investigate this.

"Just a second, woman, I'm on the phone!" Cid grumbled.

"Who's that?" Leon asked, crossing the Postern and taking the steps down two at a time.

"Sorry, just some uppity woman come in lookin' for somebody." Cid said, annoyed.

Leon rolled his eyes, "I'll call when I've got it under control."

He hung up and pocketed the phone, ducking into the dimly lit corridors that led to Ansem's office. Duke barked and then keened, staying outside. She had never liked this part of town, and he didn't have time to force her to follow. So he just continued on.

If those Heartless roasted that computer after all the work he and Aerith had put into getting it online…

The sound of screeching Heartless and small explosions greeted him as he reached the old study. The purple smoke of dissolved Heartless faded out of the catwalk corridor that led to the computer room and he gripped the gunblade, jaw flexing. He crossed the study and stepped onto the catwalk just as Cloud finished off the last Heartless in the computer room.

For once, Leon felt relieved to see the man. He gave the chamber a quick scan and, affirming that all of the Heartless had been effectively wiped out, straightened, lowering the gunblade.

"Nice timing." Cloud mumbled when he saw him, sweeping his sword back into the sheath across his back.

"How'd they get in?" Leon responded, looking down in the massive electronic storage chamber below.

"Beats me." Cloud shrugged. "They were about to torch the paper files in the study when I came in. They didn't reach the computer. I made sure of that."

Leon grunted at that, going to inspect the computer for himself. "Aerith said you were gone to Land of Dragons."

"Well, lucky for you I wasn't." Cloud walked past him toward the study.

Leon frowned at that and found the computer untampered with and undamaged. Exhaling with relief, he turned as Cloud was trying to make a getaway.

"So you lied to her?" He said flatly, careful to keep any accusation out of his voice.

He and Cloud had kept up a truce of not being so hostile toward each other lately. Leon had stayed off his case, and in exchange, Cloud had been a little more present around Radiant Garden. That was more for Aerith's sake than anything else, but if he was starting to lie to her, Leon wasn't sure he could stay out of it. He had watched Cloud ruin his friendship with Tifa already.

"No." Cloud sounded mildly insulted. "I just got back, for your information."

Leon lifted his hands and backed off, "Then why the lurking?"

Cloud shot him a look that said 'none of your business', but just turned and left without another word. Leon watched him go, deadpanned, and made sure the Heartless hadn't ransacked the paper files. It was hard to tell, the place was such a mess anyway. He had just decided that nothing had been destroyed, when he heard Duke barking.

He smirked despite himself. Duke had never really taken a liking to Cloud.

Ever since the events of three months ago, the Restoration Committee had thrown itself into overdrive with restoring Radiant Garden. Construction, development, industry, business, inter-world dealing, and the continuing assimilation with the Alliance of Kingdom Hearts: all serious matters that needed tending to, but their group was using it as a distraction now.

Neither Leon nor Tifa had spoken much on the matter of Project Stasis. There was too much to explain and there was no way to make the others understand what had happened. Sure, Dr. Leng and Dr. Urley of the Radiant Garden Hospital had given the bare facts and information about the 'incident', but only Leon, Tifa, and the other three who had been involved in it could really know what had happened…and none of them were very talkative on the matter.

But, he pondered, mechanically working with Tron to reinstate the Security System default settings, at least they weren't walking on eggshells anymore. Cid, Aerith, Cloud, Yuffie, and Merlin had been confused and bewildered at first, Leon had to give them that, but they had been tolerant as far as it all went.

However, now that he and Tifa were…somewhere between more than friends and a couple—he couldn't quite put a name on it yet—the others were starting to get curious again. Pretty soon, Leon knew he or Tifa would have to tell them what had happened in Stasis. He wasn't looking forward to it, but they deserved to know. It had been three months…

Duke was looking aggravated when he found her out in the Postern. Cloud was nowhere in sight at this point, but Leon hadn't expected him to linger.

Drawing a slow breath, Leon snapped his fingers to summon the dog and started walking back toward town. He'd talk it over with Tifa when she got back…and probably Private McCallister too, since she had been through just as much with Project Stasis as they had.

He called Cid back to inform him that the problem had been handled, but nobody at Merlin's house picked up the phone. That was disconcerting, but not concerning. Half the time, nobody was there to answer the phone anymore. He left a brief message on the answering machine and hung up, taking Duke back to the apartment.

The chess set was unchanged when he returned, but Tifa was still out of town, so of course she hadn't made a new move yet. He grunted and fed Duke before leaving to return to town for patrols. On the way, he called McCallister, and was unsurprised when she didn't answer. If he were her, he wouldn't have answered either.

**..:-X-:..**

"Because I'm such a swell guy, I'll give you a five second head start." Hades said, holding up one hand, five spindly blue fingers spread wide in the air.

"What?" Yuffie caught her oversized shuriken in one hand, winded from the seemingly endless battle that she and Tifa had waged against him.

"One." Hades dropped a finger.

Tifa pushed her hair out of her eyes, "Come on, Yuffie. This is his turf. He makes the rules."

"Damn straight, sweetheart. Two." Hades lowered another finger.

"Are you high?" Yuffie gawked at her. "But he's—and we're—This is—"

"Lord of the DEAD." Tifa said. "We're beating a dead horse here."

"Hey, I resent that. Three." Hades sneered.

"So you wanna leave? He just prematurely reaped three people!" Yuffie barked.

"For breaking contract." Hades chuckled, looking to Tifa, "Consider it a warning shot, baby face." He winked.

Yuffie looked sideways at Tifa with a quirked eyebrow, but Tifa squared her shoulders.

"Let's go, Yuffie." She turned to leave.

"We can't just leave!" The younger woman argued.

"Sure you can." Hades looked smug, "Just turn around and trot on. I won't stop you."

Tifa grimaced as Yuffie asked. "Oh yeah? Why not? Scared?"

"Hardly, honeybun." Hades remarked. "Your little amiga here owes me a little notes payable, and I'm just letting her earn interest before I reel her in."

"We're done." Tifa snapped, "Come on, Yuffie."

Before the girl could respond, Tifa marched toward the exit of the Underworld. Her insides were churning as she put as much distance between the Lord of the dead and herself as possible. Yuffie's echoing boot falls behind her revealed that she was following her.

The hot sunlight and reflecting sands of Olympus were breaths of fresh air compared to the murky, dank Underworld. Tifa exhaled in relief, blinking in the contrasting light and keeping her stride long as she walked to the Gummi parked by the Coliseum.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Yuffie jogged out after her. "What was that all about?"

Tifa didn't respond, tugging off her fighting gloves and shoving them into her back pocket as she walked. She closed her eyes briefly, praying for Yuffie to let it go.

Yuffie, of course, did no such thing.

"You just backed off. You've NEVER backed off. And Hades is the king of the dicks, Lord of jerks, highest and mightiest of assholes." Yuffie said extravagantly. "And you ran away?"

"I didn't 'run away' from anything." Tifa said over her shoulder, opening the hatch on the Gummi and climbing inside. "The mission was to figure out why those people died. Now we know, mission complete."

"No, not mission complete." Yuffie climbed in after her while Tifa contemplated the duct tape in the back of the ship. "The mission was to figure out why those people died and do something about it."

"Like what? It's Hades, there's no dealing with him."

Ironic choice of words, Tifa, she inwardly scolded herself.

"Like justice! He can't keep getting away with stuff just because he's Dr. Doom." Yuffie slapped a hand on the armrest of the co-pilot's seat.

"He reaped them." Tifa revved the engine to life. "There's no bringing the dead back to life."

Yuffie groaned and rolled her eyes dramatically, slumping in her seat. "Whatever."

Tifa found the pouting silence alleviating as she guided the Gummi out of the Olympus atmosphere. She was nowhere in the mood to answer Yuffie's questions right now, because they all led to the same objective: Project Stasis.

"What did he mean?" Yuffie asked, not thirty seconds later.

"About what?" Tifa said mildly, keeping her eyes at the windshield.

"The whole 'notes payable' thing…It sounded like—"

"Like what?" Tifa's knuckles were taut around the steering wheel.

"Are you earning interest?" Yuffie twiddled her thumbs.

Tifa exhaled sharply through her nose. "No, of course not, that's stupid."

So stupid it was true. She grimaced. This conversation was going somewhere worse than Project Stasis…Hades.

Not a month after coming out of Stasis, Tifa had gone down to the Underworld. God only knew why…She had still been disoriented, confused, desperate for something that made sense after the emotional rollercoaster…She should have known better, known that anything involving Hades would make it worse.

Had made it worse.

But, spilled milk and all…

"Good," Yuffie chirped. "Cloud pimped himself out to Hades and look how much good that's done him. Seeing him deal with that at least gave you the sense not to—" She cut herself off and sat up in her seat. "You DID, didn't you?"

Sure, Yuffie doesn't pick up on when Aerith lies about eating the rest of the ice cream, but she picks up on Tifa's mild discomfort. Then again, the Restoration Committee had been watching both she and Leon like hawks since what happened…What had been Dr. Leng's words? Instability may lead to total mental and emotional collapse? It sounded more professional than what the doctor had meant: don't ask questions or they'll snap.

"What were you THINKING?" Yuffie threw her hands up. "Cloud's little romp with Hades nearly booked him a one way ticket to Hell and then, what, you say 'sign me up'?"

"It wasn't like that." Tifa caught herself. "Can we just drop it?"

"No! You're a walking liability!"

"You sound like Cid." She forced herself to keep her eyes on flying. "It's none of your business, Yuffie. It doesn't concern you. Please, just drop it."

"Tifa." Yuffie sounded deflated. "Please tell me you didn't…after everything last year—"

"Everything—Stasis? There, I said it out loud." Tifa said, suddenly frustrated. "I'm not going to turn into a drooling vegetable if you mention it. Neither will Leon."

"Does Leon know you made a deal with Hades?" Yuffie pressed.

At least she wasn't doing that uncomfortable squirm around the subject that Aerith had taken up. Tifa hesitated a beat, and immediately knew that beat had incriminated her.

"The deal…is about Leon?" Yuffie sat up with renewed interest.

Tifa did not like where this was going. "It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does." Yuffie snapped, "Hades always collects on his deals. Did you do this before or after…Stasis?"

Tifa didn't dignify the question with a response. Nothing except silence was going to make this line of conversation go away. No talking was going to make this deal go away anyway. She just had to…to what?

She had effectively 'pimped' herself out, in Yuffie's words, for nothing but more worry and insecurity. She didn't know what would happen if she broke the contract, but it wouldn't be anything good. Besides, what were the odds that the topic would ever come up?

Leon thought Rinoa was dead. It had been almost thirteen years since the Heartless invaded Radiant Garden. He wasn't okay, but he was getting better. No more chasing ghosts, no more wild goose chases, and a lot less broody moods.

They were fine.

And then Hades told her that Rinoa wasn't dead. What had compelled Tifa to agree to never tell Leon in exchange for Hades telling her the truth…It could only be temporary insanity. Or maybe she was just so disoriented from Stasis that she was afraid of losing Leon like she lost Cloud, of being left behind, of being lost in the whirl of a new reality.

And, after 'everything' over the past year, she couldn't bear the thought of losing the only person who could truly understand her. Then again, if her trip down Moron Street ended up…He wouldn't forgive her for knowing what she knew.

"Tifa." Yuffie said slowly, "What did you do?"

Radiant Garden came into view and Tifa narrowed her eyes, shifting the gears on the control panel to initiate the landing sequence. She again didn't reply and continued to move the ship toward the hangar in downtown Radiant Garden.

The new residential district still looked bright orange and blue from all of the paint and fresh wood from construction. She could see it as the ship descended through the atmosphere. The sight of it made her feel both better and worse. Better because she could see the house that she and Leon were in the process of moving into. Worse because she was lying to him, at least by omission.

Did that make her a horrible person? Did wanting to be happy make her evil?

As soon as the Gummi was parked, she killed the engine and climbed down out of the cockpit. Yuffie followed, stomping unnecessarily after her.

"We didn't finish the mission." She finally grunted at Tifa.

"We did what we were supposed to do." Tifa finally said as they crossed the hangar.

"No, we were in the process of doing what we were supposed to do and then you chickened out because he's got you on the chopping block." Yuffie said, stomping after her.

"I'm not on Hades' chopping block." Tifa hissed.

"Well, you're certainly not on his hit list…yet." Yuffie folded her arms. "What are you hiding?"

"Why do you assume I'm hiding anything?" Tifa rounded on her.

"I think there's been a lot of hush hush since Stasis—"

"Yuffie!" Tifa groaned in exasperation. "Please, drop it. I am not emotionally compromised. I am not unstable. I am not hiding anything."

Yuffie glared at her, hard, but Tifa had endured plenty of Cloud's and Leon's glares to be immune to Yuffie's. She stared back, utterly exhausted by the second degree interrogation and the awkward eye contact and the general behavior of everyone over the past year.

"Fine." Yuffie said tonelessly as they stepped out of the hangar and into the chilly air of Radiant Garden. "But sooner or later, you know how that whole 'hiding' thing ends."

Tifa let the girl march off in a huff. She rubbed her forehead and walked in the opposite direction, toward the apartment complex close to the Allied Headquarter building…the sight of the skyscraper still gave her pause sometimes.

Her feet followed the sidewalk automatically and she let her thoughts drift. Project Stasis may be over, but it was far from behind any of them. The Restoration Committee was divided, Private McCallister had had nothing short of a psychotic break, both Tifa and Leon were required to attend therapy every other week to 'adjust', and to top it all off, Hades had brought up her deal with him in front of Yuffie, the nosiest but fortunately most easily distracted of the Committee members.

Leon would be on patrol by the time she got back to the apartment. It was just as well, she was about to lose her head; it wouldn't do any good to go into a rant and end up blurting about it to him. God, what was wrong with her?

Of course she was emotionally compromised. And she was hiding everything.


	2. Unidentified

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are McCallister and Duke.**

**Ugh, school is chipping away at my soul. This chapter took an ungodly amount of time to write…I blame the education system…and the fact that it's been raining in my neck of the woods for three weeks straight…Stupid weather. Anyway, we're hitting the ground running in this chapter. Enjoy!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Two: Unidentified**

The apartment was dark when Tifa dragged herself through the front door. Boxes were piled where they had been left half-packed for the past month. She maneuvered through the mess and nearly wiped out on the couch as she made her way to her room.

She was still on Olympus Time, which was approximately eight hours earlier than Radiant Garden Time. Hence why she was still wide awake and it was—she squinted at the clock on the wall—nearly five o'clock in the morning.

Merlin's place had been a madhouse when she walked past, so she had decided not to check in with the Restoration Committee until tomorrow. Honestly, what in the world could be going on this late at night, er, early in the morning? Whatever.

The gunblade was leaning against the wall and Leon's keys were on the kitchen counter, so she didn't bother looking to see if he was home. He was probably crashed from the double patrols he had pulled over the past two days. She just hoped he had landed on the bed and not split his skull on the floor.

Too awake to consider sleep at this point, she fixed a mug of coffee and settled herself on the couch in the living room. She opened her laptop and turned it on. While waiting for it to boot, she sipped at her coffee and leaned back against the couch, closing her eyes.

Before the flood of 'what ifs', 'maybes', and other ugly little thoughts could creep toward her, she lifted her head and leaned sideways, flicking on the lamp on the end table. The dim yellow glow lit the coffee table and half of the couch, just so she wouldn't have to squint.

Spotting the chess board beside her computer, she tilted her head and sat forward, setting her coffee aside and peering at the pieces. One of her bishops had been taken. She clucked her tongue as she analyzed the board for a moment, and then moved her white knight to D6, blocking his pawn from taking one of her rooks without being taken by the knight.

It was the most she and Leon had communicated in the better half of a week.

Shaking her head at that, she faced her computer again and opened the writing program to work on the report with the closest deadline. She didn't want to even think about writing the Olympus report…God only knew what Yuffie would put in hers.

So she wrote about last week's mission in Neverland instead.

Two pages later, it felt like she had barely been at it when the phone rang, loud and obnoxious. She caught the phone in the middle of the first ring, sliding it between her ear and her shoulder without breaking her eyes from the text on the computer screen. "Hello?"

"Tifa." Aerith sounded breathless and pitchy.

"Hey," Tifa greeted, pausing her fingers on the keyboard, "Are you okay? You sound—"

"Where's Leon?"

"He's—"

"I need to speak with him immediately."

Aerith's normally calm, level voice had a tone of urgency to it that got Tifa's attention. Frowning, she leaned back in her seat and looked across the living room through Leon's bedroom door. It was five am, and he had gotten off shift at four. Unless someone was dying, she really didn't want to wake him.

"He's asleep." She answered, eyes wandering back to the living room.

"Wake him up." Aerith was nearly squeaking now.

"What's wrong?" Tifa asked, but then the phone beeped, "I've got another call coming in."

"That's what I'm calling about. It's—"

"Aerith, hold on for just a minute." She assured. It would only take a minute to tell the other caller that it was a bad time, and then she'd finish calming Aerith down.

"But—"

Tifa clicked the line to the other call, "Hello?"

No response.

"Hell-oo?" She tried again, preparing to terminate the line.

"…Squall?"

It was a soft, higher pitched voice, but the tone gave her pause.

"Hello?" Tifa asked again.

"Er…Hello." The woman on the other end greeted lightly. "Is Squall there?"

Tifa narrowed one eye at the phone with a sigh. She didn't know any 'Squall' character.

"No, I'm sorry. I think you have the wrong number." She said.

A confused beat, "Oh, this isn't…" The other end rattled off the phone number.

Tifa frowned, "That's right, but I don't know any—"

"Squall Leonhart? The flowergirl from the square told me he lived here."

Leonhart? Tifa eyebrow shot up and she looked toward Leon's bedroom door again. He hadn't moved, splayed on his stomach in bed. Dead to the world. She didn't know if he had any living relatives…Then again, she knew he had changed his name…though it was long before she had met him.

"Squall Leonhart?" Tifa tilted her head. There was a grunt of movement in Leon's room, but she didn't look over. "I'm sorry…Who is this?" She asked, looking into the living room again.

"Oh! Sorry." The other voice chattered. "You probably think I'm some crazy person."

The thought did cross my mind, Tifa thought, but didn't say anything.

"This is Rinoa. Rinoa Heartilly. I was hoping—"

The phone kept talking, but all of the blood drained from Tifa's upper body, joining her insides on the floor. This…No, she had misheard. Surely…That…this wasn't possible…

"—and it HAS been nearly 12 years, so…Oh, geez, he doesn't think I'm dead, does he?" The woman…Rinoa…was chattering on. "Hello? Are you still there?"

"Sorry." Tifa said, barely above the whisper, eyes wide and stomach churning.

"Good." A little chuckle on the other end of the line. "Does Squall live with you? Wait…who is this? Do you know who I'm talking about?"

But Tifa heard little else as her stomach lurched. She lunged for the trash can and abruptly threw up. The phone stayed in her hand, but her knuckles around it were white. When she lifted her face out of it, trembling and in shock, she saw that Leon had lifted his head up and was looking at her. And then the reality crashed into her and she nearly got sick again.

As it was, she just snatched up a towel and wiped her mouth off, breaking eye contact with him and lifting the phone back up to her ear.

"What was that?" Rinoa was saying, "Is everything all right?"

"I'm sorry I—" Tifa cleared her throat and tried again, "How…how did you get this number?"

"Oh, the flowergirl at the sorcerer's house…I only just got back into town and when I heard that Squall was here, I couldn't believe it! So…I don't want to sound impatient but…Is he there?" There was a sheepish little giggle in her voice.

Tifa half turned and saw Leon had climbed out of bed and was standing in the doorway, looking at her in concern. She turned her back on him again.

"I…I don't know—" She stammered.

"Don't know? Either he's there or he's not," Another giggle. "Please, it's been over 10 years since—" A falter, "Please." More serious now.

"I'm sorry." Tifa had no idea how to handle this situation, and she could feel Leon's eyes boring into the back of her head, demanding an explanation for why she was freaking out. "Can you hold for a minute?"

"Um…s-sure, I guess." Rinoa sounded wrongfooted—welcome to my world, Tifa thought. "Is everything all righ—"

Tifa clicked back to Aerith's line. "What the Hell, Aerith? Who was that?"

"It was—Rinoa."

"That's impossible."

"Tifa." Leon said, stepping around her so she had to look at him, "You look like you're about to be sick." He reached for the phone.

She twisted away, "This isn't funny, Aerith. You can't just give our number out to every bimbo who claims to be—" She cut herself off.

"It's HER. Leon has to—" Aerith started.

"No, goodbye, Aerith." Tifa hung up, but didn't immediately go back to Rinoa's line.

Instead, she looked to Leon, "What's your name?" She asked abruptly.

Leon just blinked at her, sleep still clinging to his eyes, though it was quickly being replaced by utter confusion. "What?"

"Your name…before the invasion." Tifa made a half-wild gesture with one arm. "Before everything, the Heartless, and all that…What was your name?"

He looked from her, to the phone in her hand, and back to her. "Who was on the phone?"

"Just tell me." Tifa's voice shot up a notch at the end.

He exhaled heavily and looked around the apartment, exasperated, and then finally looked back to her. "Squall. It was Squall Leonhart, okay? What's gotten into you?"

Tifa's heart crashed farther, if that was possible, and she leaned against the kitchen counter, one hand over her eyes, the other wrapped around the phone. He didn't say anything for a long moment. She figured he was letting her compose herself before asking again…but how was she supposed to be compose herself after this?

"She…" Tifa stammered. "I don't know where she is right now, but she's not at Merlin's right now because Aerith called from there—"

"Who? Yuffie?" Leon asked quietly, "Did something happen?"

"No…yes…" Tifa looked at him painfully. "Rinoa." She breathed.

Even in the low lighting of the apartment, she saw every joint in Leon's body lock up at the barely audible name.

"She's…here." She whispered, her hand spasming around the phone. "She just called and said she was looking for Squall…and…and Aerith—"

Was she about to hyperventilate? If anybody should be hyperventilating, it was Leon.

Leon, however, looked…confused. Bewildered, lost, shellshocked…There was no way to classify that look on his face. A long beat passed and when he spoke, it was with an eerily calm voice.

"Aerith saw…saw her…knows it's her?" He asked.

"I think so." Tifa said softly, "She's on h-hold right now, but I wasn't sure if—"

His gaze slipped from her face to the phone in her hand. "The phone—"

Tifa wordlessly held it out. She had no right to keep it from him now. Oh God…Hades had tried to warn her about this…This couldn't be happening…It wasn't supposed to happen to her…not again…This was Cloud finding Aerith all over again…only a thousand times worse.

Leon slowly took the phone, probably refraining from tearing it out of her hand in his haste to open the line, and Tifa left the kitchen, going into her room and sitting on the bed. Upon second thought, she closed the door and then sat on the floor in her bathroom, pulling her knees to her chest. The universe was a cruel bitch.

**..:-X-:..**

Tifa had looked near tears as he took the phone from her, and had quickly retreated—almost bolted—to her room and closed the door. But Leon was still recovering from the bucket of ice water he'd been thrown into to fully grasp that he was alone with the phone now.

Alone with…

Breathing raggedly, he stumbled into the living room and sank onto the couch, staring at the phone in his hand. If this was one more wild goose chase…or some idiot trying to lead him on…No, Tifa said Aerith confirmed it…but that still didn't—

He opened the line and lifted the phone to his ear before he could talk himself into another world. "Hello."

It came out as more of a growl than a greeting, and he grimaced, rubbing his forehead.

"…Squall?"

Older, more mature, but still that singsong tone of voice that belonged only to Rinoa Heartilly. That one word broke through every wall he'd ever built to try and barricade her memory out. In one fell swoop, ten years of the pain of losing her crashed back over him. For a long moment, he just stared at Tifa's computer screen, not really seeing anything, hearing anything, thinking anything…except how—how this was possible.

"Rinoa." A statement, not a question. It should have been a question.

"Squall, is that really you?" She gasped on the other end.

Leon swallowed hard and blinked as Tifa's screen flashed onto the screensaver, the symbol of the generic brand logo bouncing against the walls of the monitor. He momentarily found his vocal chords paralyzed.

"Yeah." He managed to grunt.

"Oh my God, I finally found you." She exhaled in a rush, static clipping through her words. "Where are you? I was so sure—I was starting to think—but you're okay?"

Leon could feel his pulse in his jaw and realized he was gritting his teeth, every muscle seemed to be tensed up, as though expecting a punch. Maybe he was expecting one. He had seen too many people who looked like her, spoke like her, walked like her…But this sounded like her…Maybe this time…what if it wasn't an impostor?

"When did—" He paused, cleared his throat, and tried again, "What's your father's name?"

"What?" God, he could hear the confused smile in her voice.

"Your father's name. What was your mother's job?" He pressed.

These were questions that the real Rinoa would have no troubles answering…Unless she had some sort of amnesia…but that made no sense, because then she wouldn't remember him either…Surely if she had amnesia, she would remember her parents before she remembered some guy she had dated for a few months over ten years ago…

"Caraway…And Mom was a lounge singer before she and Dad got married." She replied, still sounding puzzled. "Sooo…why the third degree?"

"Precautionary." He inhaled slowly. "Where are you now?"

"The hotel on Fifth Street…At least it used to be Fifth Street." She replied. "I'm in room 402…Who was I talking to earlier? She sounded upset…."

"Tifa." He said automatically, and then frowned because he knew she had no idea who that was.

"Are you…I mean, I know it's a crazy hour…but…Can you meet me somewhere?" She said quickly. "I'm way too wired to go to bed now that I know you're here…and—Please?"

Leon stood off the couch, his body reminding him that he was on hour 37 with just over two hours of sleep. "Of course." It was out of his mouth before he realized he'd said it.

"Great!" She chirped. "Where do you want to meet?"

"I'll come over there." He said, stepping around the couch. "I'll be there in ten—" His eyes drifted to Tifa's bedroom door. "—twenty minutes." He said.

"That sounds great! I'll meet you in the lobby?" She said eagerly.

"Okay." He said, walking the phone back to the cradle in the kitchen. "See you then."

He hung up and set the phone in the cradle. I'll see you then? Well—how was he supposed to respond to a woman who'd just walked back into his life after thirteen years?

In the silence of the dark apartment, he grasped the edges of the kitchen table and lowered his head, drawing a slow breath. He rolled his neck once to try and loosen the tautness in his jaw, and then straightened and walked over to Tifa's door. He knocked once.

"Tifa." He turned the knob when she didn't respond and pushed the door inward, peering inside.

He didn't see her immediately, but her bathroom light was on, and the door was ajar. Hesitating a moment, he stepped into her room and slowly crossed over to the door.

"Is it really her?" Tifa was standing at the sink, splashing water on her face.

"That's what I'm going to figure out." Leon folded his arms, leaning against the doorframe.

She dried her face on a towel and looked at him. Her expression was somber. "You're going to the hotel."

Leon exhaled and looked at her. She pushed her hair out of her eyes.

"I wasn't trying to overhear, but…I did…so…sorry." She said, walking past him into her bedroom. "So you're going now?" She asked.

Leon swiveled around, keeping his eyes on her. "Are you okay?"

"This isn't about me." She lifted a hand to her forehead, "I'm…Are you okay?"

He could see she was rattled, and he could definitely sympathize with that.

"I'm…I'm going to meet her." He said, as delicately as he could without sounding apologetic. "She's in town."

Tifa's eyes on him were steady. "Are you okay?" She repeated.

He just looked back at her, dumb for a moment. It was the crack of dawn, his body felt like he'd been run over by a truck, and his brain felt like someone had taken a blowtorch to it. There was no time to determine if he was okay. Things were never okay around here. There were always Heartless, and drama, and reconstruction to do, and…now this.

"I gave up on her." The words tumbled out.

His voice came out grated and low, and whatever face he'd accidentally made must have been pathetic, because Tifa closed the distance between them and put her arms around him.

"No, you didn't." She said softly.

"I thought…I told myself she was dead…Nobody just shows up after twelve years." He continued to stand there, letting the news finally sink in. "Her trail was cold—There was no trail to follow…I did everything…Right?"

He hated that he suddenly needed her reassurance, her comfort, but thank God she was right there, or he doubted that he'd still be standing…though he could feel her trembling.

"Of course." She replied, her tone suddenly…different. "You didn't—You had no way of knowing that she was still alive." She looked up at him and he saw that her eyes were clear, but there was also something in her gaze that he couldn't place. "This isn't your fault."

He drew a slow breath and ran a hand over his face. "I have to go."

She dropped her arms to her sides, "I know."

Leon paused, absently nodding once, before going back into his room and getting hastily dressed. Tifa didn't follow, but by the time he stepped into the living room, she had moved to a seat at the kitchen table. Her whole posture, the tired mess of her hair, and just the way she was looking at him gave her an air of defeat.

Did he have to go?

Yes, yes, he had to. Twelve years…the closure…the old wounds…If Rinoa was really back and she was really still alive…then what? Where did any of them go from here? Where exactly were they to begin with? He picked up his keys, but didn't immediately head for the door.

He should say something, but…dammit, he could barely put thoughts together right now, much less full sentences…but Tifa had never required full sentences to understand him. And if he ever needed that from her, he needed that from her now.

"I can—I'll call you." He said, boots momentarily rooted to the floor. He inwardly cringed; it was a stupid thing to say and it wasn't what he'd meant, not literally. _I'm coming back._

She shifted in her seat, "Good luck." Her eyes added: _I'll be here_.

"Are you all right?" He asked. _By yourself?_

She smiled weakly. "Ask me later." _I have to stay here; you have to go to her._

He paused and walked over to her. She looked up from her seat and he put one hand against the side of her head before pressing his lips to her hair. He took a moment to breathe in the scent of her shampoo.

_I'm coming back. This changes nothing._

Her eyes were closed when he straightened, and when she opened them, they were moist and glassy in the soft lamplight of the living room. It looked like she stopped herself from leaning forward as he withdrew. She looked wordlessly back at him.

_This changes everything._

Before her unspoken words could tell him anything else, he stepped away and walked to the door. Duke, oblivious to the situation, lifted her hair from her curled position on the floor under the window. She licked her nose at him but didn't get to her feet.

Steeling himself, Leon opened the door. "Tifa…"

Why couldn't he just say what he meant? He had always shot straight with her, and he had never felt the need to hide anything from her…So why was this so difficult? Her name hung in the air between them…And he had no idea how to continue the statement.

She broke the silence.

"I'm sorry." Her voice cracked.

He had no idea what she meant this time. His mind was already tearing itself apart; he didn't have the capacity to decipher anything else at the moment. They locked gazes.

"Call someone. Aerith, Yuffie, please even Cid…" He said quietly. _I don't want to leave you alone like this._

"Okay." She said, tone flat. _Then don't leave_.

"Okay." _You're not going to call anyone, are you?_

Leon left the apartment, feeling like he'd just walked out in the middle of a discussion. He felt like an ass for leaving her. He felt trapped between a rock and a hard place. He hadn't looked away fast enough, and she hadn't hidden her emotions quickly enough.

The dawn breeze of Radiant Garden felt moist and chilly, but he couldn't go back for his jacket. One more look at Tifa and he wouldn't be able to go to meet her—Rinoa. Every step he took in her direction was a step away from Tifa…but she hadn't stopped him, hadn't told him not to go…She had practically told him that he had to go see for himself.

Maybe she was right…but why hadn't she told him not to go? He almost wished she had said—maybe demanded that he stay…told him that she…that this bothered her…And then she apologized…For what? This wasn't—this had nothing to do with Tifa, how could she think—

He was standing in front of the hotel. How had he walked here so quickly? One second he was berating himself for leaving the apartment, and now he was standing outside the building where Rinoa said she would be…still berating himself for leaving the apartment. For leaving Tifa. No, that wasn't right. He'd never leave Tifa like this…

Then why was he here?

Standing out in the chill like an idiot wasn't going to solve anything. Leon drew a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and then opened the door and walked inside the hotel.


	3. Unprepared

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as is Duke.**

**Again, this chapter took a horrific amount of time to write. I wanted to wrap up **_**These Lines of Lightning **_**before really diving into this one so I could focus on this story properly. Thus, since I just finished **_**These Lines of Lightning**_**, now the serious writing of this story can commence!**

**Fear not, this chapter is awkward on purpose. Enjoy!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Three: Unprepared**

Soft piano music was drifting into the hotel lobby from the in-house drinking lounge connected to the building. The lobby was modest, earth tones, lit by the same yellow-hued lamps as the lounge. It was also only inhabited by the clerk behind the desk and two elderly women, playing cards and talking about…whatever elderly women talked about.

Leon closed the door behind him, looking around the lobby once again, only seeing the same three people in the lobby. This was the right hotel…There were only three hotels in Radiant Garden to begin with, and only one at the location that Rinoa had told him. Nonplussed, he stepped toward the lounge, seeing a few people littering the tables, listening to the soloist at the piano and sipping at their drinks.

"Sir? May I help you?" The clerk at the desk asked.

He looked over at him. "No…Thanks…Just looking for someone."

Before the clerk could prompt further, Leon turned and walked into the lounge. The piano sounded slow, droll, and mournful. Then again, it was…what time was it again? He felt completely disoriented. It didn't really matter…

A few hotel workers were cleaning the tables, only two or three people were customers, still drinking, or maybe just still drunk from the earlier part of the night. It was mostly men, that he could see…Though there was one woman close to the stage, watching the soloist play the piano—

Rinoa.

His blood momentarily stilled and it made him lightheaded for a second. It passed and he swallowed hard, eyes locked on her like a magnet. After so long, over a decade of searching, and she was right here. Solid, tangible, healthy, and alive. Yet…different.

Steeling himself, he stepped into the lounge, slowly moving around the tables. Not directly at her, more…serpentine…Somehow, beelining toward her after so long running in circles seemed too…aggressive.

He wasn't subtle enough, however, and she glanced sideways to look at the newcomer. She looked back to the piano absently, and then immediately did a doubletake, eyes snapping back to him. Large, onyx eyes, glittering with the flickering lamplight. Eyes that were older than he remembered, and eyes that had seen just as much ugly as he had.

She stood from her seat and he stopped a few feet from her. She was dressed in the same blue and black color scheme that she had all those years ago…although now it was…older…more…revealing…and even from where he was, he could see the callouses on her skin and the toned set of her arms and legs. He could also see the white angel wings on the blue material hanging from her cut off shorts.

"Squall." She said in an exhale, the same musical tone in her voice as always, but older, more grown up, and tired from the same trials of life that had added the age to her eyes.

"Rinoa." He reciprocated, as though to verify each other.

She inhaled and swung her arms at her sides slightly. "It's really you." Her face split into a smile and she stepped toward him.

"Yeah." He responded.

They both paused. She looked like she wanted to step forward, but hesitant, as though the years were still separating them. He was utterly lost as to how to proceed. She was…like a stranger. She was different from the energetic, optimistic, beautiful teenager whom he had dated for a few months before the invasion. Now…she was still energetic, her eyes were still bright with optimism…and she was still beautiful…but now she had…reserve.

Then, with a little squeak, she closed the distance between them, threw her arms around him, and pulled him into as big a hug as her small frame would allow. The physical embrace was almost too much. An hour ago, she had been dead in his mind. Now she was here, hugging him and her perfume was like cedar and lemonade, and the soloist on the piano had fallen silent.

Leon closed his eyes, putting his arms around her in response. An hour ago she had been dead in his mind, and now he was here, holding her. Her skin was warm, her breath was on his neck, and her shoulders were almost trembling. Alive.

"I thought you were dead." She breathed.

He opened his eyes again, looking at the top of her dark haired head. She was shorter than Tifa, but not by much. "Same here."

She laughed a little at that, straightening and wiping her fingers under her eyes, where moisture had gathered. "Oh, I promised myself I wouldn't do that…I remember how uncomfortable you get around crying people."

"It's okay." He said quietly, touching her arm. "I've learned how to handle it."

She chuckled and pushed her hair back from her eyes. "I'm sorry, I just—I don't know how exactly to…go about this. I mean—it's been—you've changed, I've changed—Times have changed."

He looked at her. "We could start with…How have you been?"

She laughed again, a tension-relieving laugh. "Okay, let's start with that." She sniffed and glanced around the lounge. "You want to go for a walk? This place is a little…dark."

He paused and looked at her. "It's the middle of the night. It's dark outside too."

Rinoa smiled, "But there are no stars in here."

Leon tilted his head, "All right."

They left the hotel and out into the open night air of Radiant Garden. The stars were out and shining, and the claustrophobia of the dark lounge fell away, relieving more of the awkwardness between them from the reunion. She kept her hands clasped behind her back as they walked.

"Radiant Garden sure has changed." She remarked, opening the conversation.

Leon glanced around. He had walked the streets of Radiant Garden every day for the past four years, overseen its reconstruction, and been one of the first to come back to their homeworld after the Heartless, along with Yuffie, Aerith, and Cid. It was hard to imagine just coming back now after all those years.

"Where have you been?" He asked, as delicately as possible.

She sighed softly, keeping her eyes ahead. "Everywhere."

He remained silent, looking at her occasionally as they walked.

"After the Heartless…attacked…I woke up in this strange place. A bayou on another world." Her eyes narrowed as she reminisced. "I remember waking up and staring at the sky. It was the middle of the night, but there were more fireflies than stars. I wandered around for hours before I found another person: an old blind lady named Mama Odie." She laughed. "She helped me put the pieces together and gave me directions to the nearest city."

They walked past the fountain monument that served to memorialize those lost during the wars against the Heartless, and as Rinoa looked at it with a measure of awe and sadness, Leon looked at her, still in shameless shock that she was here. He had told Tifa, promised her, that this wouldn't change anything…but…he knew now that he had been lying. This was going to change everything…And he could only wonder how much control any of them had over that.

"I asked around, but no one could tell me anything about what had happened…to our home, to my family, to you…" She pushed her hair behind her ear, looking back at him. "So I left that world and went to the next place…Met a stuck up emperor who had been turned into a llama…He was no help, and then I ran into some trouble with this creepy advisor woman of his…So I went to the next world, where an entire civilization had been living in a cave under the ocean…Their entire world was powered by a crystal…It was beautiful, but they didn't know anything about the Heartless either…So I went to the next world, and the next, and the next…and I never heard anything."

Leon tilted his head, "There are a lot of worlds out there."

She snorted, "You're telling me. Talking animals, poisoned apples, girls with hair over fifty feet long…Every world I went to, it was so new and different…but I never could find out anything about Radiant Garden." She sighed, "But I quickly learned about the Heartless."

She stepped away from the fountain and they kept walking, toward the construction zones where the new Residential District was near completion. A reflective silence hung between them. It was hard to escape learning about the Heartless. Leon knew that well. It sounded like she had been looking for him just as determinedly as he had been looking for her.

"Then, two years ago, the grape vines just exploded. Everyone was talking about 'Hollow Bastion', and the Keyblade, and Kingdom Hearts." She went on. "I was in Notre Dame at the time. I had promised to help a woman who had helped me some years earlier, and she kept talking about the war ending." She shrugged, "So I started digging around again and…Learned that Hollow Bastion had been the epicenter of it all."

Leon looked at her. "Two years—"

"It took a while." She shook her head, "I think part of me was scared…If I—" She swallowed and looked at him. "If I found my home and you weren't—and things were different—After so long trying to let you go—I was afraid that coming back here would make it all too real. You were dead." She wiped her eyes again. "That sounds stupid, I know—"

He shook his head, "No, I understand."

"Ugh, listen to me." She laughed and sniffled. "Going on about me, me, me. I heard that you were behind the Restoration Committee." She looked around, "You did all of this." She smiled, "Well, I heard someone named 'Leon' did all of this." She looked at him with a grin. "Why did you change your name?"

This was a conversation he didn't want to have. Well, not right now. Not with her. Not so soon after they'd reunited. Her eyes lingered on the scar between his eyes. He had received the scar during the invasion, after he had last seen her. She looked like she was fighting every fiber of her being not to ask about it…as though asking about it would be rude.

"There are a group of us on the Restoration Committee, not just me." He side stepped the question. "The people that survived the invasion with me—We stuck together…" He paused, looking at her. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you that day."

She stopped walking, looking at him in amusement. "Just because you didn't save me doesn't mean that I wasn't saved." She smiled, "I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself." She winked. "Don't beat yourself up about it."

He smirked, "You're about twelve years too late for that advice."

She smiled, but then looked away for a moment. When she looked back at him, her expression was light, but her eyes looked burdened. "I tried to let you go. I really did. Don't get me wrong, I fought it for years…but eventually…" She shrugged weakly. "I had to accept that you were dead…Now I've found you and I'm just…lost."

"If it helps…same here." He offered.

She snorted, "It doesn't, but thanks." She swallowed and looked around for a change of subject. "So…who else is on the Restoration Committee?"

Leon deflated slightly, latching onto the change. "Cid Highwind—"

"The old mechanic who was friends with your father." Rinoa bobbed her head.

"Aerith Gainsborough—"

"I talked to her on the phone. She was in my algebra class."

"Yuffie Kisaragi—"

"That scary little girl who kept stealing trinkets from us?"

"Same girl, just taller and with a better throwing arm." He clarified. "Then Cloud Strife—"

"Oh, I bet that's been…moody."

"Ah, he's not that bad." Leon waved her off, "And Tifa Lockhart."

"Tifa…The woman on the phone at your place." She said quietly.

The unspoken question hung between them like a curtain. They kept walking, and Leon frowned at the sky, trying to figure out the best way to go about this…Because, in all honesty, he had no idea if he understood his relationship with Tifa enough to explain it. Their relationship had never required explaining. It just…was.

"She's my…We work together." What? No, that wasn't right— "I mean, we're friends. We live together." Closer, but that still wasn't what he wanted to say-

"Can I meet her?" Rinoa asked brightly.

**..:-X-:..**

Sunlight was creeping in through the windows as dawn broke across Radiant Garden.

A hot bath and the glaring stack of files on the kitchen table had done nothing to help Tifa relax nor to take her mind off of what was happening. Sleep was out of the question. So she had ended up on her knees in the kitchen, vigorously cleaning the inside of the oven. Her latest escapade in cooking had ended in disaster, and the interior of the oven had been burned black by the smoke and the combusted turkey dish that she had left in there too long.

She had been meaning to clean it for a few days now…and she had too much nervous energy to do anything else, so she had attacked it not long after Leon had left. She wanted to throw up and she wanted to scream at the same time. But she had already thrown up and screaming would only alarm the neighbors, so she settled for cleaning the oven.

"I shouldn't have let him leave." She mumbled out loud.

Duke was lying on the floor beside the fridge, watching her with lifted ears.

"But I couldn't tell him not to go." She added, sitting back slightly and stretching her fingers. "I knew she was alive." She looked at the dog, "I knew but I didn't tell him. God, I'm a horrible person."

Duke's tail swished across the floor, but she didn't lift her head from her paws.

"I'm selfish and horrible and…freaking out. I'm freaking out." She tossed the sponge she had been using into the trash. "Should I be freaking out?"

The oven was just as black as it had been an hour ago, only now with one clean spot against the left wall of it. She sighed and wiped her forehead. She had forgotten about the yellow cleaning gloves that she had donned…the gloves that just smeared sooty soap across her forehead.

She frowned and got to her feet, but she had also forgotten that she had left open the glove drawer. Her shoulder slammed into the corner of the drawer. She staggered slightly off balance and dropped back into a squat, cursing as the pain cut into her skin.

Duke lifted her head at that, and Tifa rubbed her arm as she got to her feet successfully this time. She wasn't bleeding, but the skin was already turning red from the contact. Frowning, she rubbed the spot and looked at her reflection in the window. Yep, dirty soap blazed above her eyes like it was Ash Wednesday.

She fetched a bag of frozen peas and put it against the rising bruise, closing the drawer with her hip. "What if…Should I be freaking out? Leon and I…we haven't exactly been—I don't know what we are—We're more than friends, but—We've never talked about it…We shouldn't have to…right?" She looked to Duke.

Then again, she thought, if he knew how she felt and she knew how he felt…Why was she freaking out? Maybe twelve years didn't mean anything. She had never really believed in 'true love' and 'soul mates' and all that airy fairy nonsense…but two people didn't suddenly find each other after being separated for over twelve years by war without it meaning something.

And if Leon found out about her deal with Hades…

The door opened suddenly and Tifa looked up sharply, gloves still on, soap still on her forehead, peas against her arm, and a bruise creeping up her shoulder. Duke looked over toward the door, climbing to her feet. Leon stepped inside and Tifa felt both relief and a sudden seizing in her joints.

Time for the verdict.

"Hey." She greeted.

He spotted her and looked confused. "Hey. What happened?"

"Just—cleaning." She set the peas on the counter. "So…how did it go?"

He looked uncomfortable. "It's really her."

"Okay." She rubbed her arm again. "Are you okay?"

"I'm…" He rubbed his neck with one hand, "I don't know what I am right now, but—" He glanced at the door and then back to Tifa. "It's going to take a while to sort through all of this."

"Of course it is." She nodded, "Did—I mean…Was she—"

"She's here." He blurted.

Tifa paused, "What?"

He hesitated, and then stepped deeper into the apartment. "We were walking around and talking about…everything…and you came up and—"

"I 'came up'." She repeated flatly. "How exactly did I come up?"

"The Restoration Committee and all that—" He waved absently. "But she mentioned wanting to meet you and—"

"Leon—" Tifa straightened away from the counter.

"I know…I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking—" He shook his head.

"She's—HERE?" Tifa pointed at the floor.

"In the hall." Leon gestured, looking torn between apologizing to her and grabbing up a bottle of Jack. "I told her to wait until I ran it by you—"

Tifa lifted a hand to her face, remembered the gloves, but couldn't recoil fast enough before the gloves smattered more soot and soap across her cheek, nose, and jaw.

"You must have been pretty off your rocker to think this was okay." She looked at him, "I don't know this woman. You barely know this woman anymore…Does she think you're still together? Does she know about me and you?"

Leon folded his arms, pinching the skin between his eyes. "I don't know. I wasn't thinking—Everything is just…How am I supposed to react to this, Tifa?"

He looked so confused and…un-Leonlike that she softened a little. Her emotional roller coaster was nothing compared to his right now…But hers was still pretty nauseating and she wanted off.

"I don't know." She stepped out of the kitchen. "We'll figure it out." She glanced toward the door. "Is she really just standing out there in the hallway?"

He nodded and exhaled heavily, "I can tell her it's not a good time."

It would never be a good time, she thought, but sighed and shook her head, "No, I—Eventually I'm going to meet her." She forced a small smile, the most she could muster at this point. "Might as well be now."

He looked at her evenly. "Are you sure?"

He asked as though he wanted her to say no…

"Yes." She gave an absent wave, "Bring her in before I change my mind."

As he opened the door, she looked down at Duke again. The dog licked her nose and her tail wagged once. She didn't dart over to her master, but lingered by Tifa's side. Tifa swallowed and took a slow breath. At least she had one impartial ally…even if it was a canine.

Composing herself, she hastily grabbed up a towel from the table and wiped her face of the soot and soap, fidgeting with her hair when the door opened again and Leon walked back in, followed by…her.

Leon didn't have pictures of Rinoa, or if he did, Tifa had never seen them. He had never talked about her enough for Tifa to get a mental picture—not that she had tried. The only description that Tifa even had of the woman was Aerith's recollection of her…And she had only said that Rinoa had long dark hair and hazel eyes...So Tifa knew that she and Rinoa might look slightly similar…but the resemblance now was…uncanny.

Sure, Rinoa had more girlish facial features, and Tifa had a few more pounds of muscle, but that didn't stop the hairs from raising on her arms.

"Hello." Her voice was slightly higher pitched than Tifa would have thought, and it had a singsong quality to it…like a perpetual giggle. "You must be Tifa."

She walked forward, outstretching a hand, all smiles.

"Yeah, I must be…Er—" Tifa blinked and took the outstretched hand. "Sorry, hi, yeah, I'm Tifa. Rinoa, right?"

Duke bounced on her forepaws at the newcomer, but then dodged a quick circle around Leon's legs, wanting some of this attention for herself.

"Yep, that's me." Rinoa smiled, "Sorry if I sounded like a spaz on the phone…I was kinda freaking out—still freaking out actually." She rubbed the back of her neck.

"Ah, yeah, me too." Tifa replied through her teeth.

Rinoa took her hand back and looked awkward for a whole second before glancing around. "This is a great place you've got…Squall says you two are roommates?"

As she walked into the living room, Tifa met Leon's eyes and her brows knit together. Roommates? Really? That's what you tell her? Well…what else would he say? Oh, I don't know, she battled herself, we're a couple, together, dating…Sharing two bedrooms…But she hadn't actually slept in her own room in a while…She usually ended up with him…When they were even sleeping at the same time…Recent scheduling conflicts had put them on opposite routines…

Rinoa was talking again…Tifa snapped out of her thoughts. "Hm?"

Leon looked apologetically to Tifa and replied to Rinoa's apparent question. "I don't know. She was a stray and we just took her in."

The 'we' made Tifa's breathing a little easier, but not by much.

"Oh, this is gorgeous." Rinoa finished petting Duke, who lapped it all up, and walked over to the brass chess set on the coffee table.

"Turns out," Leon started, trying to keep Tifa from tanking. "Rinoa has been to a lot of different worlds…none of which are in the Allied system…That's why I could never find anything on a trail."

Rinoa picked up the black queen and held it in front of her eyes. "This set must be nearly a hundred years old." She set the piece back down randomly and looked back to Leon and Tifa. "So let me get this straight."

Both Leon and Tifa paused, looking at her uncertainly.

Rinoa narrowed one eye and straightened, "Squall Leonhart, avoider of all things social, has become one of the leaders of the Alliance?" She grinned. "It's quite a step up."

"Leon." Tifa corrected under her breath, not loud enough for the others to hear.

"I didn't…" Leon paused, still looking whiplashed from the night's events, "It was necessary. When Radiant Garden was restored, a group of us came together to bring our home back to its former glory…Social…ness…has nothing to do with it."

Duke followed Tifa into the living room and Rinoa took another half-beat before bouncing onto the next item.

"Well, I didn't mean to barge in like this…It's late and I just…I really wanted to meet you and the others…" She chirped. "I should get back to the hotel…"

Leon seemed to latch onto the idea. "Right, right…Late and all…"

"It was great to meet you!" Rinoa clasped her hands together as she looked to Tifa.

"…yer—" Tifa cleared her throat, "Yeah. You too."

Leon opened the door and Rinoa hopped out. "I'll walk her home…and be back soon." He stammered, looking wrongfooted and slightly dazed.

Tifa looked at him hard as she sank onto the couch. "Okay."

He glanced out into the hallway, seemed to see that Rinoa had stepped far enough away, and looked back to Tifa. "I'm sorry. She…I didn't think—"

"Okay." She repeated.

What else was she supposed to say?

He looked pained for a moment, but then closed the door to follow Rinoa.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Tifa covered her face with her hands and leaned forward so that her elbows were on her knees. Drawing a slow breath, she looked through her fingers at the chess board.

Pursing her lips, she reached out and moved the black queen back to its correct position.


	4. Unnamed

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as is Duke.**

**Guh, this chapter made me mad. I couldn't focus for the life of me. Barely into the first arc of the story and it's already smacked me into a corner. The schizophrenic-ness of this chapter is on purpose, and I am going somewhere with it, I promise. Just bear with me until we get past these little bumps.**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Four: Unnamed**

_7:35 a.m._

Black bishop to A4

_9:42 a.m._

Tifa fell asleep on the couch in the living room. She wanted to wait up and have a proper argument with Leon about…all of this…but sheer exhaustion had won out and she found herself waking up late for her first meeting of the day.

Leon was gone. A scribbled note on the kitchen counter explained that he had taken an early shift—too wired to go back to sleep, she mused—and probably wouldn't be back until later. Between bolting through a shower and scarfing down a bagel, she jotted a reply on the same paper: late for meeting, home later.

Duke had been let out for the day too, so she didn't have to mess with feeding or walking the dog. She glanced at the chess board as she hopped on one foot, pulling her shoe on. Analyzing it quickly, she moved her white pawn forward to F3 and hurriedly finished getting dressed, darting out the door to her meeting.

_10:33 a.m._

"What was I supposed to say?" Aerith walked after Tifa as they left the meeting room.

Tifa couldn't even remember what the meeting had been about; she had been too busy trying to think through the previous night.

"I don't know," Tifa remarked sarcastically as they walked through the halls of the Allied Headquarter building. "Maybe a little warning? 'Hey, wake up Leon' isn't exactly the same as 'beware, Tifa, your nemesis has returned'."

"She's not your nemesis." Aerith sighed, "Will you slow down? I'm trying to talk to you."

"Can't slow down." Tifa continued walking—more like marching—toward her combat department. "If I slow down I start thinking. Thinking right now is bad."

"Have you talked to Leon about this?" Aerith kept up at a hurried pace.

Tifa picked up files from the main work station and threw a greeting nod to the woman behind the desk before thumbing through the papers and walking on. "Wasn't time. He walked her home. I was tired. He was tired. We were tired."

"So you're just…okay with this?"

Of course NOT.

"I'm fine." Tifa remarked, looking back at the other woman as she dug out her office key. "We're fine."

Aerith looked concerned, "There was no way for either of you to know that she would just show up like this…We all thought she was killed in the invasion…or shortly after…I'm just saying…If you need to talk—"

"I'm fine, Aerith." Tifa said, opening her office door. "Really. If you're worried about anybody, be worried about Leon. He's the one who's reeling from this."

Aerith did a half-glance toward Leon's office across the department. This gave Tifa the opportunity to slide into her office, close the door, and breathe.

Exhaling, she leaned against the door and closed her eyes. She lifted a hand to her forehead and rubbed her temple, tossing the files on her desk. Drawing another breath, she straightened and opened her eyes, crossing to the window and opening the blinds to let in some light.

The door opened and Aerith walked in, not biting the distraction.

"This is a big deal." She said, closing the door after herself and walking to stand in front of Tifa's desk. "Rinoa's return doesn't just shake up Leon. It shakes up you. And the fact that she dragged him to the apartment so she could meet you in the middle of the night—"

"She didn't drag him. She asked." Tifa corrected, "He was too…messed up to say no. So I met her. Then she left. Not a big deal."

"You two are living together—"

"Roommates, apparently." Tifa muttered.

"—You've bought a house…I'm sure you've…had—I mean you two have made—"

"Had sex?" Tifa filled it in for her.

Aerith waved a hand, "Anyway, I didn't talk to her very long last night but it sounds like she wants to pick up where they left off twelve years ago."

"Not possible."

"Clearly."

"And how do you know that?" Tifa remarked, sitting behind her desk. "They're entirely different people from who they were back then." She blinked and looked at Aerith. "Unless you think it's possible."

"What's possible?" Aerith folded her arms.

Tifa stood, "You think they could actually get back together."

"What? No! Leon's with you. He's in love with you. Everybody knows that." Aerith waved a hand to dismiss the absurd idea.

"Do they?" Tifa paused. "We've…Leon and I have never actually talked about it. We've never had to…Now this and—everything—"

"I've known Leon my whole life." Aerith pointed out, "He never actually talks about anything involving love and intimacy…And he's only ever been…open…around us."

"And Rinoa." Tifa swallowed and spoke slowly. "Aerith, I'm not worried."

Aerith looked like she wanted to interject, but Tifa talked over her.

"Leon and I have a good thing here. It's taken a long, long time for us to get here. This isn't going to change anything." She shook her head slowly. "We're okay."

Aerith stared at her for a long minute, measuring her up, and then deflated slightly, hands on her hips. "All right. All right, fine. I'll buy that for now." She glanced around the office. "Where is he now?"

"Took an early patrol." Tifa dropped her eyes to the file in front of her. "I have to get to work."

"I'll go talk to him."

"You do that…but I didn't send you."

"And you'll call me if you need to talk?"

"Yep." Tifa quipped lightly, not looking up.

She kept her eyes on the file until she heard Aerith leave the room. Signing off on the nearest report, she lifted her gaze to the computer and saw the sticky note on the monitor.

_Lunch 12:00?_ In Leon's scrawled handwriting.

Tifa couldn't stop the smirk as she pulled out her phone and sent him a text.

_U could have called me instead of leaving a note._

She set the phone on the desk and finished leafing through the file. Vague details in the reports about another world on the cusp of falling to the Heartless. The Council had mentioned that at the meeting earlier…It was starting to sound serious.

Her phone buzzed and she opened the reply message.

_Nnt was easir. R u fre them/?_

She squinted one eye and shook her head. Leon couldn't text to save his life.

Deciphering the typos, she replied with: _Sure, meet u outside then_.

_12:09 p.m._

Duke was romping around the delivery man who was unloading new items at the Marketplace shop. The energetic dog was a welcome distraction from Tifa's morning.

"I'm sorry about last night." Leon said, leaning against the wall of the Marketplace, overlooking the Great Maw.

Tifa sat cross legged on the safety wall, chewing thoughtfully on a bite of her sandwich. "I know." She swallowed. "Where is she now?"

"She said she was going to walk around Radiant Garden, see how it's changed." Leon took a drink from his coffee. "I shouldn't have brought her over last night."

"So why did you?" She said, careful to keep her expression neutral as she looked at him.

He eyed her for a moment and then lifted his shoulders, "Temporary insanity? That's all I've got in response to that."

"I'm not accusing you of anything." She said, brushing the crumbs off her hands and swinging her legs back over the wall. "I'm just trying to figure this out."

"I am too." He lifted a hand to rub his forehead. "I mean, twelve years…None of us had any idea that she was even still alive—"

"Can we talk about something else?" Tifa cut in.

He looked at her.

She closed her eyes and rubbed her neck. "I'm sorry. I know that you need to talk about this, and I want to be your sounding board, but…I just can't…Not right now. I'm—I'm sorry."

The truth was, there was too much to talk about and too much to avoid talking about at this point. Leon hadn't known that Rinoa was still alive, but Tifa HAD. It was worse than lying to him about it…and lying to Leon wasn't easy. For one, because he was damn good at sensing if you were lying or not. For two, it HURT to lie to him.

And now she had just closed the door on him. She had long learned that Leon was a 'figure it out on my own', 'I don't want to talk about it' kind of guy, and after so many years dealing with Cloud's similar personality, she could handle that. But Leon needed to talk about this, and she…was refusing to.

The hole was getting deeper.

"The Council thinks the Heartless are going to take this new world." Leon said after a moment, looking toward the Marketplace.

Tifa deflated slightly at the change of subject. Great, now I'm pushing him away, she cursed herself but choked down the regret.

"I heard about that." She remarked, eyes flickering over to the Items Shop. "Are any measures being taken?"

He folded his arms, not looking at her. "The Heartless have started cropping up there, but the impassable wall around the world is still up. If we go there and break the wall, the Heartless attacks are going to get worse."

She blinked at that. Heartless typically infected a world by slipping through the cracks in the atmospheric wall: the wall that encompassed the world and kept it isolated from the rest of the galaxy and what was 'out there'. To hear that the creatures were spontaneously coming to life inside the wall was…eerie.

"That means…the darkness in the world was preexisting." She commented.

He nodded. "The two parties inhabiting it are on the brink of war. There's a surplus of anger and hatred over there…That's why the Alliance is hesitant."

The clock downtown chimed a cheerful half-past noon.

A quiet, not-entirely-comfortable beat passed between them.

"I have to go." He said abruptly, straightening.

Tifa looked at him. "Meeting?"

"Sort of." He exhaled, "Going to talk with Rinoa. Last night was too scrambled to really sort through anything." He glanced at her.

"Oh." She stopped her eyebrows from rising and shifted. "Well, that'll—that'll be good to…catch up."

"Tifa—"

"It's fine." She interjected, trying to give him an earnest smile. "Just…I mean—promise me that—" She stopped and grimaced.

"Promise what?" He looked at her.

She exhaled and looked up at him. "We aren't roommates."

He studied her for a moment. "I know."

"And we aren't friends." She grimaced again. "I mean, we are friends and we live together, but it's…you know?"

"Yeah." He said carefully. "I'm sorry about…saying that."

"It's okay, I mean—I just—" She remained sitting on the wall. "What are we?"

He eyed her for a second before leaning in and kissing her briefly. "Not roommates."

She watched him walk away and looked down. Things were not okay.

**..:-X-:..**

While they had agreed to meet at the large Gummi hangar, since that was where Rinoa had arrived two days earlier and therefore remembered well, Leon found her at the next door body shop, pestering Cid and Cloud.

His odd conversation with Tifa was still plaguing him when he walked in, but the shock of seeing Rinoa was still very alive, and it momentarily shut the conversation into the back of his mind. Cid was chuckling dryly as the woman attempted to engage Cloud in conversation, though the younger man looked like he was desperate for an escape route.

"Squall!" She spotted him and gave a full-armed wave.

Drawing a calming breath, Leon crossed over to where the three of them were. "You're early." He greeted, unsure how else to start this.

"Yuffie gave me the big tour, but she talked so fast that I got lost." She smiled, "So Cid was nice enough to give me the 411 with a map." She pointed at the map on the counter.

Leon lifted an eyebrow to Cid, who was normally nearly as 'leave me alone, I'm busy' as Cloud. "Oh he did?"

Cid shrugged, "She was persistent."

"And this guy has been no help at all." Rinoa chided, grinning back at Cloud.

He looked like a deer in the headlights. "I wasn't trying to—"

Cid snickered as Cloud abruptly walked away, toward Fenrir. Rinoa tilted her head and looked to Leon and Cid. "Is he…okay? I mean, in here?" She pointed to her head.

Cid laughed louder at that and Leon jerked his head toward the street. "Do you want to go?" He suggested, because talking about Cloud's mental health wasn't what he'd had in mind.

"Let's." She bobbed her head. "Thank you, Cid."

They left the body shop and went to the only place that Leon had found to be private around town. Since most Gummis had been upgraded to lift directly into the air, the old runway behind the hangar had been little used in recent weeks. As a result, there wasn't a lot of traffic, people or otherwise. That was optimal, since Leon didn't want to deal with passerby while talking with Rinoa.

"Wow," She remarked, looking down the long fairway as they put the old section of the hangar behind them. "Isn't—isn't this where the old high school used to be?"

Leon blinked at that and glanced around, trying to get his bearings and remember. "I don't…think so."

"No, no, it totally is." She swiveled, looking toward the old castle ruins. "I remember. You could see the face of the old castle on your left," She spread her arms crucifix-style and looked left, "And on your right, you could see my hou—house." She looked right and faltered.

The old residential district of Radiant Garden had been completely destroyed by the Heartless attacks, and anything that survived had been demolished by the reconstruction team. What had been the residential district was now the industrial sect. Instead of quaint houses and chimneys, there were brick buildings and warehouse factories now.

"It's so different." She sighed, sinking to sit on the edge of the runway.

Leon squinted at the right end of the fairway, trying to imagine the old high school, the old district, but it was too hazy to see clearly. He sighed and sat next to her.

"It's better than it was just three years ago." He noted. "I'm glad you didn't see it when we all first came back. It was…" He swallowed. "…like a graveyard."

Rinoa propped her elbows on her knees. "I'm sorry I wasn't here."

Leon exhaled and looked at her. Maybe she hadn't been here for the rediscovery of their home world, or the wreckage or the war or the restoration, but she had clearly been through a lot. The weary look in her eyes said so, even though she was putting on a brave face.

"Is this all there is?" She asked after a brief silence.

He followed her gaze to the town skyline and frowned. She glanced at him and recovered herself.

"I don't mean—It's just…Radiant Garden used to be enormous." She sighed, "There were dozens of buildings and homes and stores and…people." She pursed her lips against the rising emotion. "Where are all the people?"

He didn't answer immediately. More than half of the population of Radiant Garden had been killed or taken by the Heartless all those years ago. Many more had vanished during the wars. Only the strongest and most stubborn had come back immediately. Now that the town was getting its feet back under it, more people had been coming back…but they were still a long shot from the former glory that it had been.

"The town is smaller," He conceded, "But we're stronger." He looked at her. "You're exact evidence that people are coming back."

She smiled meekly at that and rocked slightly on her seat. "From what I hear, you're a big reason for that."

He remained quiet for a moment. "I don't know about that."

"Well, I do, and so do a lot of people I've met." Rinoa giggled. "There's no one in Traverse Town who doesn't speak highly of you, and everybody in Radiant Garden knows you." She paused. "Well, they speak highly of and know 'Leon'." She elbowed him in the ribs playfully. "I might have found you a lot sooner if you hadn't changed your name."

He sighed and looked to Rinoa. "I'm not…that person anymore."

She smiled gently. "Sure you are." She hugged one knee to herself.

"No, I'm not." He argued. "That's the point. Squall was too weak to fight the Heartless, too young or too inexperienced or too helpless…I couldn't be that person and survive that."

Rinoa tilted her head, "You take too much responsibility sometimes." She scooted closer. "Besides, you weren't all bad back then."

He snorted at that but then sombered. "Listen, about last night—"

She dropped her gaze. "Sorry."

He blinked and looked at her. "For what?"

"I kinda barged right in, didn't I?" She smiled apologetically. "I was just so excited to find you and come home and everything…I think I might have freaked out your friend Tifa a little…come on a little strong."

Leon twitched slightly at that, "Yeah, and I needed to clarify something about that."

"It's just…twelve years…" She ran a hand through her hair, "I think I've earned the right to be a little…kooky." She swallowed, fidgeting.

Rinoa had always rambled when she was nervous. It was a trait she shared with Tifa, he noted. It wasn't making this any easier.

"I just thought I'd never find you and now I've found you and I feel like I'm screwing this up." She blurted.

Screwing WHAT up? He thought, perplexed.

Rinoa looked on the verge of tears suddenly and he sat up straighter.

"The past twelve years have been horrible." She said, and he could practically see her optimistic mask crumbling away. "I've seen terrible things…happen to good people…and now this—" She looked toward the town. "My entire family is…gone. Most of my friends are gone and being back here, home, without them is…it's painful."

Now that her bubbly surface had been momentarily stripped away, he could see the broken soul beneath it. He empathized with the feeling of hopelessness and the sorrow of losing everything…But it was so strange to see endlessly-cheerful Rinoa like that.

"I know." He offered. "Believe me."

She chuckled and wiped at her eyes, "Maybe I should change my name. That might help." She teased lightly but then went serious. "Look, I just want you to know—"

Conversations that started with those words never went anywhere good, Leon thought, but he let her continue.

"I know we only dated for a few months before this all started." She made an absent gesture. "And it's been over a decade since we were together…"

"Rinoa—"

"Please, let me finish." She pleaded, "Just know…I'm not expecting anything. I mean…I want to really get back to where we were," She offered a small smile, "But I'm not an idiot. I know we can't just jump back on the train."

"No, we can't." He input. "That's what I need to talk to you about. Yesterday, when you came to the apartment, I wasn't being straight with you."

She blinked, "What are you talking about?"

"I…I don't know why I didn't come out and say it from the get-go." He explained, "But I've let you believe that this—" He gestured between them, "—can still happen. It can't."

Hurt dashed across her eyes. "I don't understand—"

Leon rubbed his forehead briefly, trying to figure out how to explain this to her without slapping her with it. "I'm glad that you're all right and you're back, but we can't get back together."

"Hey." She said gently. "It's okay. I think I get it."

He looked at her and narrowed one eye at her gentle expression. "I don't think you do."

"You've always been reluctant to get close to people. I've known that since I first met you." She said with a small smile. "I remember I had to fight tooth and nail just to get that first date with you." She put one of her hands over his. "I can fight tooth and nail again."

Then, slowly but assuredly, she leaned in and brushed her lips against his. It was a tender, hesitant kiss, and she smiled but withdrew when he didn't return it. He couldn't return it. The shock, first of all, and the memories associated with the taste of her…

"Rinoa, I'm with somebody." He blurted, unable to take this anymore.

Rinoa looked like she had been slapped. She retracted her hand from his and leaned back out of the intimate zone.

"Tifa isn't my roommate." He said slowly. "We're together."

She blinked owlishly. "O-oh." She stammered.

Then her eyes widened and she lifted a hand to her lips.

"Oh my God." She backed up and got to her feet. "Oh my—oh my God, I am so sorry." She staggered slightly off balance.

Leon stood as well. "I'm sorry. I should have told you sooner."

"Ya'huh?" She looked away from him. "Are you married?"

"No." He shook his head, not stepping closer to her in her disoriented state. "But we're living together—"

"Yeah, I got that." Her eyes were wide and unblinking and she looked back at him. "And you introduce her as your roommate? What's the matter with you?"

"I—" He stopped. He shouldn't have to defend himself to her. To Tifa, yes, but Rinoa was…an innocent bystander in this… "Didn't you move on?"

"Would I have thrown myself at you if I had?" She grimaced and put her hands on either side of her head. "Oh…crap…So stupid…You probably think I'm some desperate nutjob."

Leon was utterly wrongfooted. This wasn't going at all like he'd thought. It was going exactly how he'd feared. "No, this was my fault."

"Is she okay?" Rinoa whirled on him in a panic. "Oh—and then I just showed up at your apartment—I have to apologize—" She started to walk away.

Leon sighed, pinching the skin between his eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this misunderstanding to happen."

Rinoa deflated and turned to face him again. "I know…I know you didn't. But—" Her eyes moistened and she averted her eyes. "And I know I shouldn't have expected you to wait for me…I mean, twelve years, right?" She gave a meek little shrug. "But…"

He carefully remained apart from her.

"I'm still in love with you." She said quietly, as though confessing a sin.

Leon just stared at her. She was exactly where he had been just a few years ago. Even though it wasn't realistic, it wasn't logical, and it was unhealthy…He had been in love with her too…the memory of her at the very least. Twelve years pining after someone like that didn't disappear overnight…but every day with Tifa was diminishing that pining more and more.

And now this had happened.

"I know I shouldn't be." Rinoa continued after a moment. "And I feel embarrassed for…all of this…but I have to know…Do you still love me too?"

The question cut deep and Leon physically flinched at it.

Loving Rinoa had been easy when they were teenagers. She was beautiful, bubbly, and had been determined to get him to like her. Letting her go had been the hardest thing that he had ever had to do…and he still wasn't sure that he'd succeeded at it.

But it was a fairytale. This was reality. Life with Tifa was hard. It was messy and it was complicated, and the mutual baggage that both she and he carried still got in the way sometimes…But, God, it was worth it.

"Squall." Rinoa asked, tears leaking down her cheeks.

He looked at her painfully, his brain refusing to compose anything.

She swallowed hard. "Do you still love me?"


	5. Unspoken

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as is Duke.**

**Difficult, difficult chapter. I feel like until now I've been diving too quickly into the conflict, so this chapter will elaborate on where everybody is mentally. Hopefully it clears up some of the muddy parts. Enjoy!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Five: Unspoken**

Tifa and Aerith were sitting on the couch and talking when Leon returned to the apartment that evening. By the papers and magazines strewn about, he could only imagine that they were working on the parade that Aerith had thought up last week. Something about celebrating the fifth anniversary of Radiant Garden's restoration…

"And then we could release doves." Aerith was saying, hands raised enthusiastically.

"It's a parade, not a wedding." Tifa replied, looking up when Leon entered. "Hey."

Her eyes still looked heavy with the past two days, but she offered a smile. Aerith looked back as well, looking momentarily apprehensive. "Hi, Leon."

He set his keys on the table by the door and closed the door after himself. "This looks like trouble." He gestured to the coffee table.

Aerith giggled, "If we don't plan it, nobody will."

"How did everything go?" Tifa asked mildly.

Leon exhaled, drained from his earlier…encounter…with Rinoa. "It went."

Tifa snorted at that and Aerith made a slightly-tense amused noise. He still felt shell shocked from the conversation and the unfortunate kiss and the whole misunderstanding…Mercifully, Tifa didn't go immediately for the throat.

"You look beat." She offered, legs folded under her on the couch.

Duke rolled out from under the coffee table and stretched, her back end in the air. The dog trotted over to him and wagged her tail, demanding attention. He slumped into the nearest chair and scratched behind her ear.

"We can pick this up later." Aerith tutted, setting her notebook aside. "I just remembered that Yuffie wanted to meet up about that one thing."

It wasn't exactly subtle, but Leon appreciated it all the same as she stood and gathered up her bag of things. By the lack of struggle on Tifa's part, she was grateful too.

"Okay." Tifa bobbed her head, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Aerith smiled and patted Leon's head as she walked toward the door. "Call me later."

The flowergirl left, closing the door after herself, and Tifa sighed heavily.

Neither of them spoke for a long minute.

Then they both tried to speak at once.

"Rinoa kissed me."

"I knew about Rinoa."

An awkward beat.

"What?"

"What?"

They both looked at each other, unwilling to repeat what they'd said.

Tifa broke the silence first. "She kissed you." She said it slowly, as a statement.

"Yes." He replied painfully. "Before I had a chance to tell her about us."

"Us." She repeated again slowly.

"But then I told her. It was my fault." He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "I should have told her sooner…but she was all…emotional…But that's not an excuse. I'm sorry."

"Emotional." She repeated again.

Tifa looked impossibly expressionless about the whole thing; her tone unreadable. Leon felt a sudden sympathy for Aerith and Yuffie having to put up with his own lack of expression.

"It didn't mean anything." He continued.

She remained sitting where she was, staring at the magazines on the coffee table. Before he could pursue any other line of apology, her first statement came back to him.

"You knew about Rinoa?"

Her eyes darted to his.

"What does that mean?" He regarded her steadily.

Tifa looked right back at him for a long, quiet few seconds, and then she unfolded her legs from the couch and stood. "I'm going to take a shower and then I'm going to bed."

Leon just blinked at her. What? What did THAT mean? She wasn't yelling at him? She didn't even look angry. Upset, yes, but the lack of expression on her face was alarming. He stood also. Duke padded away from him.

"That's it?" He balked incredulously.

Tifa half turned back toward him. "I'm tired, Leon…Squall…whoever you are. I just." She lifted her hands to her temples. "I don't know how to handle this right now. I'm not…I'm not mad, I'm not angry at you…I mean…I'm not HAPPY with you, but…" She sighed, "I'm going to take a shower."

Leon exhaled, "Don't do that."

She looked at him, looking as tired and emotionally drained as she'd said.

"Don't do the girl thing." He gestured.

She blinked once. "What?"

"The thing where you act like nothing is wrong, so you can just blow up on me later, when I'm not ready for it." He said evenly.

She blinked again and straightened. The lack of expression was replaced with a very clear expression: rage.

"I'm sorry." She canted her head dangerously and took a step closer. "So I should just wait until you're ready so I can be upset that you kissed another woman?"

"No…I'm ready now. Let's just get this over with."

"Oh, well, thank God you're ready." She said sarcastically. "Just like I was ready when you dropped this on me! You said you were going to just talk to her."

"I only meant to talk to her. She thought I was trying to get at something else, but as soon as we set things straight, she backed off." He faltered. "But it's…complicated."

Tifa abruptly walked to her room, but spun back to face him from the doorway. "How is it complicated? Was there tongue involved?"

"No, of course not." Leon looked at her. "She said…she told me that she was still in love with me. And…and she asked if I felt the same."

Tifa stopped in her fuming and looked back at him. "And?"

"And I told her that things had changed." He answered honestly. "She went home. I came here. That's all."

"That's not an answer." Tifa trembled slightly. "Never mind. I can't do this right now."

She turned to go back into her room, and this time Leon didn't stop her.

Tifa wanted to be alone, more specifically, not around him. She needed to think things over. He understood that…but he didn't understand what 'I knew about Rinoa' meant. She had known that the woman still had feelings for him? But the two hadn't spoken alone that he knew of. She had known that he and Rinoa had kissed?

But that only made sense if Rinoa came here and told her before he got home. But then Aerith would have been more reactive and Tifa wouldn't have been so placid. Maybe she had called…but Rinoa had always done apologies face to face. She had always preferred to look people in the eyes when she apologized, so that they knew she meant it.

Leon ran a hand over his face and slumped back onto the couch. Duke hopped up onto the couch with him, crawling across his lap and begging for attention. He rubbed her head and her tongue lolled happily. Well, at least someone was having a good evening.

One of the main reasons he and Tifa had always gotten along so well was the fact that they could read each other. A tilt of the head. A quick glance. A purse of the lips. A shift in footing. It was invaluable on missions and on the battlefield. He could tell when she was being serious or playful or defensive just as easily as she could read when he was being evasive or broody or attempting to be romantic.

But now she was hiding from him. From this whole situation. She was refusing to talk about it and he was beginning to think that she was refusing to think about it. And that was completely against her character. Tifa was hard nosed when it came to things. If there was an obstacle, she would overcome it as soon as it popped up. Nip it in the bud.

Yet, she was backing away from this entire Rinoa thing…and he had no idea why. It was almost like she wasn't surprised, like she hadn't been expecting it. But that was ridiculous…unless she had always suspected that she and he wouldn't work out. That with all of their previous relationship histories, that there was just too much to overcome.

No, he didn't really believe that.

Tifa had never given him any indication that she wasn't happy here, with him. Rinoa had returned while they were happy. That's when this all started. Rinoa was the epicenter of all of this, somehow. And he had no idea how to remedy that.

He tilted his head back and groaned in frustration. Duke's ears lifted at that and he sat up a little. She hopped off of him to the floor and he stood, restless from all that mulling. His eyes drifted to the chess set on the fringe of the magazine mess. Was it his move? He felt like he hadn't laid eyes on the game in days…but one of her white pawns had been moved.

Glad for even the minute distraction, he reached down and moved his remaining knight to C5 before stepping around the couch. Duke padded along after him as he walked into his room. His morning patrol shift felt far removed from important at the moment, but he couldn't ignore his responsibilities because of personal issues.

There was no way he was getting any sleep tonight…but trying to sounded better than beating his head against the wall for the next five hours. Part of him wanted to go to Tifa right now and just hash this out properly, but in his frazzled state and her sleep deprived state, one of them would probably end up saying something they would regret and it would just make it worse.

Tifa had gone into her room. Since becoming…more than roommate friends…most nights she had slept in his room, with him. After everything they had been through, it was just easier to sleep with another warm body at your back. But her door was closed, and it didn't take a genius to figure that she was going to stay in her room tonight.

Leon splashed some water on his face in the joining bathroom and absently got undressed, flopping into bed like the worn out blob that he felt like. Duke had already hopped up onto the foot of the mattress, her tail slapping against his calf every so often. He pushed his face deeper against the pillow for a moment before turning his head and finding the dog watching him expectantly.

"I didn't kiss her back." He muttered defensively.

Duke licked her nose and gave him a canine smile.

"Tifa knows that I love her." He added, as though to dignify himself.

The water was running in the other bathroom, he could just hear it through the wall.

"This is going to blow over." He said aloud.

Duke's ears perked at his voice.

"The kiss was a misunderstanding. Tifa knows I would never…and I told Rinoa—" He looked from the wall to Duke and saw the dog's tongue lolling.

"I told her things had changed…and they have…I mean…" he sighed. "After everything that Tifa and I have been through, there's no way I could—"

Duke wriggled closer to him, sniffing lightly at the air, as though she could smell his inability to speak straight.

"I don't know, okay?" He lifted a hand. "I'm not in love with Rinoa anymore…but I still have feelings…I don't know what they are. They're not…I'm not in love with her."

Then why didn't you just say that, stupid? He mentally scolded.

"I don't know." He dropped his face against the pillow, as though Duke had been the one rebuking him.

Maybe he was overthinking all of this.

A minute passed, and then he felt Duke's cold, wet nose against his elbow. He looked up just as the dog hopped off the bed and plodded out the door of his room, taking an immediate turn toward Tifa's room.

Even the dog was picking sides.

Leon snorted at that and rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling. There was a reason that he had been alone all these years: he screwed up relationships. He didn't know how to handle things like this. A date here, a date there; they had never meant anything and never gone beyond that until he got close to Tifa…and even that had been a happy accident.

If it wasn't for Project Stasis, they may never have even become friends.

It was sick to think he was grateful for Stasis…

After being trapped in an alternate reality simulation with Tifa, Sora, Kairi, and McCallister for a week—which translated in 'Stasis' as four years—he and Tifa had had to depend on each other to stay sane, to survive, to muddle through everything. In a way, it was easier there, because survival was the objective…and compared to relationship issues, mortal survival was easy.

But now, back in the real world, that easy relationship with Tifa was being tested…and so far he was fucking it up royally.

On the bedside table, his cell phone buzzed, interrupting the internal monologue.

With a groan, he picked up without looking at the number. "What."

"Leonhart? It's Graham Nestor."

Damn…if there was one person whose call would make his night worse…

"This better be good, Nestor." He grunted.

Nestor cleared his throat on the line. "The impassable wall around World-MX9 has begun to crack. Analysts say it will start collapsing soon at this rate."

Leon sat up. World-MX9 was the code for the latest world being attacked by the Heartless. Rather, Heartless were just springing into being there, without the walls being damaged. By the sound of it, the situation had just gotten infinitely worse.

"How soon is soon?" He asked.

"Two weeks. We're holding an emergency Council meeting in the morning. We need you there." Nestor sounded disgruntled.

"Dammit." Leon muttered, rubbing his forehead once. "What are we looking at? Does MX9 know what's going on?"

"They're on the brink of civil war. We can't get any effective communication established!" Nestor fumed.

"All right, all right." Leon sighed, "I'll be there."

**..:-X-:..**

Tifa wasn't a bubble bath person, normally, but tonight called for it.

While water filled the tub, she tied her hair up to keep it dry and dumped the bath salts and soaps in to the water to froth. She stared at herself in the sink mirror as the water gurgled out of the faucet.

The reflection looking back at her looked…passive. She looked tired and the exhausted circles under her eyes only made her eyes look more hollow. This façade, this mask of ambivalence wasn't at all what she felt.

She felt betrayed. She felt hurt. She felt angry. She felt naïve. She felt like she was getting just what she deserved. She felt like she had no right to feel any of those things. She felt lost. She felt alone. She felt confused.

Betrayed because this was her worst fear: Rinoa coming back and whisking Leon away from her, and he was allowing it. Hurt because, mistake or not, they had kissed. Angry because Leon had stopped armies from gaining an inch of battleground, but couldn't stop one woman from throwing herself at him. Naïve because she had told him she was okay with all of this, as though pretending that it wasn't a big deal would make it not a big deal.

She was getting just what she deserved because she had lied to him, or at least lied by omission. She had never given him any reason to think that Rinoa was still alive, and now the shock of it was tearing him apart and it was tearing Tifa apart. She hated being lied to, it was part of why she had held a grudge against Cloud for so long…and now she was doing exactly what she hated. She was lying to the one person who could absolutely kill her—mind, body, and spirit—if he forsook her.

Leon had that power over her. Tifa knew she was stubborn, hardheaded, and difficult to compromise with sometimes, and he had always met her head on. She called him out when he was being stupid; he called her out when she was being idiot.

But now he was being stupid and she was being and idiot and neither of them were saying anything.

Instead, she was standing here, staring at herself in the mirror, hating herself for letting it go this far, and Leon was…she had no idea where. She thought she had heard the door close. That probably meant that he had left the apartment. Whether because of their lukewarm argument or because something otherwise had happened, she didn't know.

Yes, damn it all, Leon had the power to break her…and up until a few days ago, Tifa had been sure that she had the same power over him. There was a balance and an absolute equality between them. A complete trust…but they had never discussed it. Maybe they should have.

Maybe if they had actually, for once, sat down face-to-face and talked about what they were to each other, pulled away the curtain of mystery and defined how deep their relationship was, said those three all important words, and gotten it all out in the open…Maybe if they had, then this situation would have been avoided.

Maybe Leon wouldn't have felt such a strong pull to Rinoa, a woman he had dated for a few months over a decade again. Maybe Tifa wouldn't have felt so paranoid. Maybe she could have been honest about her deal with Hades, and they could have faced the consequences together.

But if they had done that, they wouldn't have been Tifa and Leon.

By now, the water had filled the tub and the frothy bubbles were covering the surface. Tifa looked away from the mirror and turned off the faucet. She undressed and stepped slowly into the tub, exhaling as the hot water met her skin.

Easing herself down into the tub, she reclined against the wall. The bubbles drifted up just around her knees and against her shoulders. The water was almost too hot, but the heat was soothing, reaching deep into the coiled muscles of her calves and shoulders. She exhaled heavily and tilted her head back against the edge of the tub.

She wasn't handling this well at all.

But then that fit her pattern, didn't it? With Cloud, she had tried to support him in his fight against Sephiroth so much that he ended up avoiding her for it. With Leon, she was trying to give him the space he needed to figure things out, but in reality he needed someone to figure things out. And Tifa was supposed to be that person.

Instead, he was finding that person in Rinoa.

Tifa pursed her lips as her vision blurred. She lifted a hand to her eyes, but let the tears come. What was the matter with her? Rinoa coming back wasn't Tifa's fault. Leon and Rinoa reuniting wasn't her fault. Their mistaken kiss wasn't her fault…but she sure wasn't a victim in this whole situation.

That was why she was finding it so hard to be honestly angry with Leon for Rinoa kissing him. Tifa had lied to him for so long about Hades and knowing that Rinoa was alive and out there, that in some twisted way, she felt that she deserved this pain tearing through her now.

And tonight she had tried to tell him about Hades…She had thought that she had finally reached her limit and wouldn't be able to keep the secret from him any longer…only to find out that Rinoa had made a pass at him.

Leon said that Rinoa backed off after he told her the truth…but then that she'd told him that she still loved him and asked if he still loved her? That didn't sound like any kind of 'backing off' that Tifa had ever heard of.

And then this 'things have changed' business. What did that mean? Of course things had changed, life changed. But the way he'd said it…With regret or with confusion? The fact that he'd changed his name was a testament to how things had changed. The fact that he had refused to tell her what his old name used to be—until she flat out demanded to know a few days ago—told her that he was trying to part with the past.

But the past had come back anyway.

The tears of frustration ran down her cheeks and into the bubbles of the bath.

Now, she had a few options. She could spill and tell Leon everything: her deal with Hades, her feelings, everything. He would be furious, but maybe he would forgive her. Of course, he was also within his rights not to forgive her and then decide that…Oh, Rinoa had never lied to him, he was still in love with Rinoa, Tifa who? The idea made her nauseas.

She could continue to play dumb and wait for this whole thing to blow over. It went against every fiber of her being, but maybe Leon was only so shellshocked and frazzled because Rinoa had only just re-entered his life. After a while, they would realize that they both had changed and go their separate ways. Then Tifa and Leon could get back to their normal lives. It was unrealistic and it was naïve, but it was still an option.

Then again, she wasn't exactly giving Leon any reasons to choose her over Rinoa. She had been completely blasé about the whole thing, sans the past half hour. She had given no real outward reaction to Rinoa's return. She had practically shoved him at Rinoa when she called that night wanting to see him.

She thought that not making a big deal would diminish how big of a deal it was. And in so doing she had managed to give off the impression that she didn't care. That this didn't bother her. That she was unaffected. Hell, even when he told her that Rinoa had kissed him…she had barely managed to scrounge up the energy to yell at him.

"Damn it." She sat up, clenching her eyes closed and dropping her forehead to the tops of her knees.

This was so screwed up.

Would it have been so awful to let Leon know how much this was hurting her? She had been so wrapped up in his need for closure…but at the same time, she obviously hadn't cared enough to be honest with him.

She was being a coward and a fool.

Too restless to sit still, she climbed out of the bath after a few more minutes, and dried off, hastily throwing on her bath robe before crossing her bedroom and opening the door. On her way, she glanced at the mirror on the vanity in her room. The eyes of her reflection were bloodshot and a deep frown was carved across her lips. Her nose was red and her expression looked pushed to the brink. Now she looked more like what she felt inside.

The living room was empty, as was the kitchen and his room. His keys were gone, and Duke was curled up under the coffee table. A scribbled sticky note had been left against the door.

_Nestor called a meeting. MX9. Back later._

Tifa picked up the note, sighed, and set it on the coffee table. She tugged her hair out of the hair tie and shook it straight, moving into the kitchen. There was half a case of beer in the door of the fridge, but she poured herself a glass of iced tea instead. Alcohol would surely only make this night worse, especially if she was still here when Leon returned.

Going to sit at the couch, she sank into the worn out cushions. Aerith's papers and magazines about the parade were still scattered about, but a party was the furthest thing from her mind at the moment.

Tifa sipped at the tea, just for something to do with her hands. She had to remedy this somehow. Before it got out of hand and this hole dug her in any deeper. She reached for her cell phone on the coffee table, and her finger hovered over the speed dial. She sighed and closed her phone.

This wasn't something to chat about over the phone. Besides, he was in the middle of a meeting, and regardless of their personal issues at the moment, World MX9 was about to go from the firing pan to the fire. She had even heard rumors that the Alliance was thinking about launching a reconnaissance to help settle things and contain the situation.

She set the tea and her phone back on the coffee table and propped her elbows on her knees, holding either side of her face in her hands. Duke didn't lift her head at the shift, but her tail twitched.

"It'll be okay, right, girl?" Tifa mumbled aloud.

The dog's ears lifted and her tail wagged once at her voice.

"I mean, we've been through too much for him to hate me about this…right?" She tried to reassure herself.

Her eyes drifted to the chess board. He had made a move before he left. Odd how this insignificant little fact was reassuring. Tifa glanced over the board and deftly moved her white rook sideways to take his black knight to B4. She set the piece aside and slumped back into the couch again.

Duke wriggled out from under the coffee table.

Right now, Tifa was at a stalemate. She couldn't focus on anything, and she couldn't hash this out with Leon until he got back. Guh, why had she just walked away when he was here? She had always heard 'don't walk away angry' and now she was starting to understand.

The dog sat in front of Tifa, tail brushing the floor and her tongue hanging out. Tifa couldn't smile, but her spirits were slightly lifted by the attention she was getting from what felt like her only ally. Duke's wet nose touched her knee and Tifa reached down, scratching her neck.

Duke's eyes half-closed, enjoying the treatment. Tifa petted her for a while before glancing back toward Leon's room. His door was ajar and the light was off. This was driving her crazy. She was getting more restless by the minute. She hated leaving things unresolved or on bad terms like this. During the war, you didn't dare leave an argument with your comrade, because you might not be able to make up before one of you was killed or rendered heartless.

Tifa stood and stepped around the couch, going back into her room and getting dressed. It was nearly dawn. Radiant Garden usually didn't wake up until around 8 or 9 in the morning, but she couldn't sit around in this empty apartment another minute.

Just like with Cloud, she couldn't wait around for Leon to come to her. She'd done enough pushing him away already. This wasn't like with Cloud at all, she would make damn sure of that. Crossing out of her bedroom and grabbing up her keys, she clucked her tongue a few times and opened the door.

Duke padded around the couch and over to her, following Tifa out into the hallway. Tifa closed the apartment door and locked it. The dog weaved around her legs a few times, happy to be out of the apartment, and the two made their way up the hallway, down the elevator, and across the lobby of the apartment first floor.

As soon as they were outside, Duke romped down the stairs, tail going wild in the dewy air of Radiant Garden before sunrise. Tifa drew a deep breath and followed down the stairs. She brushed her hair out of her eyes and looked toward the horizon. Already the sounds of construction were reaching her from the new Residential District.

Tifa let her feet guide her through the town. It was early enough that not many people were out and about, so she had less townsfolk to deal with and explain her sleepless appearance. The summer air was cool and crisp, not yet baked by the sun. Reconstruction had come a long way in the past few years.

Before the Heartless, there had been two distinct residential zones. There were large, lavish homes—just short of mansions—with big yards and gated communities. Then, across the tracks, were smaller, economical living situations: cramped apartments or small identical houses. The Restoration Committee had been determined to level out that kind of dichotomy.

The new Residential District was still economical, but with good sized yards and enough variety in the different houses for each to feel like a home. Most of them were still vacant, complete and ready for inhabitance, just waiting for the bidding on the market. Leon had bought the first house that hit the market. Whether as a surprise for her or because it was damn time to have a real house, she wasn't sure, but it was lovely. The apartment was great, but she was ready to move on, start a new chapter.

Now she wasn't even sure she was in the same book.

Tifa found herself standing on the sidewalk, looking up the yard to the very house. It was a uniform, two story house. Bedrooms, bathrooms, living rooms, a full kitchen, the whole works. It was a house waiting to be a home. She and Leon had been in the process of moving into it for a few weeks now. Between patrols and missions and everything else that had come up in the past few months, it had been slow going.

Now it was at a standstill.

But it was a beautiful house.

She ascended the short walkway to the front door and unlocked it, easing the door open and stepping inside. The house was empty, freshly painted and with wood floors starting to gather dust from misuse, but it was clean and it was empty enough to carry a slight echo when she walked across the floor.

Duke followed her in, sniffing at every nook and cranny. The canine hadn't been here before. The construction zone was carefully marked off to the public and civilians. But the active zones were several blocks away now, finishing the final houses of the sector. Soon this street would be full of people. Moving in. Meeting new neighbors. Filling their new homes with their belongings and their memories. Beginning new lives.

Eventually there would be block parties, baseball tournaments, barbecues, and the workings of a community. The world had been united by war and evil and darkness, and soon it would be reunited by a return to normalcy, to love.

Standing in the middle of what would be a living room, Tifa lifted a hand to her mouth to curb the emotion that clogged her throat. She wanted this. She wanted to live in this house. She wanted to live here with Leon. She wanted the baseball tournaments and the barbecues and the neighbor kids romping up and down the sidewalk. She wanted normal.

Composing herself, she walked out into the backyard, where grass hadn't yet started to grow on the dirt that had been rolled and tilled by heavy vehicles. Dawn broke behind her.

Tifa would be damned if she let Rinoa steal this away from her.


	6. Unrequited

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are Duke, Nestor, and McCallister.**

**This chapter was written quickly. I had a bunch of ideas that had to get into this chapter, so if it reads a little scattered, that's because it is. Sigh. Anyway, the drama is starting to pick up. The past chapter or two have been a little slow and introspective, but we're getting to the hard stuff soon, fear not! **

**As always, feedback is appreciated!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Six: Unrequited**

After making sure that everything was still in order in the house, Tifa walked back toward the town. By then, the sun had cast long shadows across Radiant Garden and more people were out and about, opening their shops and getting their morning coffee. Also by then, she had semi-straightened out her thoughts and was able to genuinely smile back to the cheerful townsfolk.

Seeing the house always put her in a better mood, helped her get her mind back on track, and generally boosted her spirits. In a world surrounded by the past and the derelict, seeing something that signified the future was always a positive note.

Now that there were more people to interact with, Duke widened her perimeter around Tifa, bopping off to terrorize Biggs and Wedge…then on to barking at the Chihuahua who belonged to the woman who ran the candy store…and running two quick circles around Cloud, who was heading out to do his morning training routine—she never let him pet her, but she was getting more comfortable around the blond lately. Then she was off toward the headquarter building to demand love and attention from the soldiers and interns.

Ah, to be that carefree.

Tifa watched the golden retriever bound away, barking at something or other. She had just bought herself a cup of coffee and a newspaper when Duke's barking picked up—she had found a new toy, it seemed. It must have been good if she was choosing it over the adoring hordes of soldiers who crooned over her like a queen until Cid scattered them with his usual 'get the fuck back t'work, ya lazyasses! She's just a dog!'

Aerith would want the low down on what had happened between Tifa and Leon last night. Tifa wasn't quite sure what she would tell her. Had it been a fight? Yeah, but a pretty piss poor effort of a fight. What did he say? What did she say? Are you two okay?

Tifa loved Aerith, but she had a way of…nagging…when she knew something was wrong with her friends. It was a touching and comforting trait in theory; in practice, it was annoying. So Tifa intentionally-unintentionally avoided Aerith's morning route, walking in the direction that Duke had taken.

She would have to go to work eventually, where she would most likely run into Leon, since their departments were in the same wing of the headquarter building. Thinking about the reports and deadlines waiting for her there were painful, so she focused on that instead of her deteriorating link of communication with Leon: her best friend, her partner in crime, her more-than-roommate, and the only one she could properly rant about things with.

"Tifa."

She half turned back toward the old district to see Cloud hailing her. The paper cup of coffee halted in mid-air a few inches from her lips. What was this—

"Cloud." She reciprocated, her voice carrying the startled and perplexed tone that she felt.

For the past several weeks, they had had an unspoken agreement. You leave me alone; I'll leave you alone. After their explosive argument followed by months of cold silence and tension and forced conversation, they had finally both just come to the conclusion that the only way to mend the broken fence was to leave it alone for a while. She could confidently say that she wasn't angry with him anymore about the whole 'let's completely avoid Tifa while I hunt for that Sephiroth guy' thing. Sure, the grudge was still there, just waiting to leap out and sink its teeth into his jugular, but for the most part…She was okay.

Now for HIM to initiate conversation of all things—where he clearly was under no obligation or gun point to do so—was, put lightly, perplexing. She glanced around, but didn't see Aerith lurking anywhere, threatening him with a stick.

"Hey." He greeted, walking up to her. "How are you doing?"

Tifa's eyebrows lifted slightly and leaned away. "Who are you and what have you done with Cloud Strife?"

He gave her a flat look. "I'm serious." He paused. "I heard about—is she really back?"

Tifa deflated slightly, "Oh, that, well, yes…Rinoa Heartilly has returned to Radiant Garden." She let the sarcasm creep in: she had nothing to hide from Cloud. "Whoopee."

He grimaced. "Aerith told me that it's been a little…tense."

"Of course she did." Tifa exhaled, hearing Duke barking somewhere behind her.

"Well…has it?" He asked after a moment.

"What?"

"Been tense, I mean." He added. "I just mean it—it can't be easy…Are you okay?"

No pity, no 'poor Tifa' expression, and it wasn't a rhetorical question. It was…nice.

"I'm…fine." She replied belatedly. "It's just been a few days, but…I don't know. It sucks." She blurted. "And it's complicated…And I don't know how I'm supposed to deal with it. Every way I try seems to blow up in my face, and I—"

She stopped herself, looking away before she started babbling. All of that uncertainty and confusion and fear was there, simmering right under the surface, and if she wasn't careful, it was going to spew out of her like a foghorn. She couldn't talk to Aerith because Aerith talked to everybody—bless her heart. She couldn't talk to Yuffie for the same reason. Cid would listen, but any advice he gave would probably include a dead fish and a stinkbomb. Merlin was…well…a little off his rocker.

And clearly she couldn't just talk to Leon himself because…damn it.

Now Cloud was just standing there like a sounding board and Tifa restrained herself. She was treading in dangerous waters at the moment. So she was quiet for a contemplative beat and then straightened.

"It's nothing I can't handle." She responded.

Cloud didn't look convinced, but he didn't press her. She was both exasperated and grateful for that.

"I guess you're—" He started.

"—going to work." She finished with a bob of her head.

There was an awkward pause and she looked at her watch to break it.

"And I'm going to be late." She remarked.

"Oh, okay, right." He seemed to snap out of catharsis and glanced toward the training spots. "I need to get going too."

"Okay." She fidgeted with her newspaper. "Thanks for the concern, but I'm okay."

"Yeah…yeah, and if you need to talk—"

The idea of CLOUD offering to listen if she needed to talk was almost laughable, but she appreciated it. It frazzled her…This entire morning had frazzled her.

"Thanks for the concern, but I'm okay." She mindlessly repeated, tagging on what she hoped was a reassuring smile before they parted.

Cloud mumbled something as a goodbye and Tifa tilted her head and then started walking again, glancing after him. That had to have been the weirdest—

Her leg bumped into Duke, who had meandered back over to her side. Tifa squawked, turning back away from Cloud to look ahead of her. Balance lost, she staggered and her other knee smacked into the wall railing overlooking the Great Maw. Her grip faltered on her coffee and it ended up splattering across the shirt front of the person Duke had been playing with.

"Oh!" The woman blurted.

"I'm so sorry!" Tifa regained her balance, grabbing the wall with one hand to steady herself. "I didn't see the dog and—"

She had spilled her coffee all over Rinoa.

Of course.

Fuck.

Fuck fuckity fuck fuck!

The same thing seemed to flash across Rinoa's eyes and both women fell quiet.

In that moment, Tifa would have run after Cloud and had the most thought-provoking, emotionally-charged conversation the world over if only it would get her away from this situation.

Most of the coffee had hit the side of Rinoa's shirt and the left leg of her shorts. She was fidgeting with the splatter, wringing out what she could, but the damage was done. Duke sniffed and licked at the spilled beverage on the concrete.

"Are you—" Tifa cleared her throat, "Are you okay?"

"Me? Yeah, I'm perfectly fine." Rinoa rambled in a squeak. "It wasn't even that hot."

Tifa snorted, "That's Radiant Garden coffee for you."

Rinoa laughed unnecessarily loud at the remark, but quickly stopped.

Duke barked and moved away from Rinoa and instead weaved around Tifa's legs. Though the dog probably didn't like the coffee, Tifa let her mind believe that Duke just didn't like Rinoa. It made her feel incrementally better.

"Tifa…I am so sorry." Rinoa clasped her hands in front of her. "I'm sure Squall told you what happened…and I just want you to know that I didn't know that you two were together. If I'd known that you and Squall were serious, I wouldn't have kissed—"

Tifa's eye twitched at the name 'Squall', but she lifted a hand to cut her off. "It's—"

"Roommates, can you believe that?" Rinoa ran a hand over eyes, "I always knew he was a doink about these things…but honestly…I hope you yelled at him. I was absolutely humiliated."

Tifa wanted to tell this woman a thing or two about being humiliated, but she held her tongue and started looking for escape routes.

"Yeah, he's—awkward like that." She said absently.

"Usually it's a lovable awkward…kind of adorable really—GAH!" Rinoa put her hands on either side of her head, "I'm sorry…Maybe I should just shut up."

"Yeah, maybe you should." Tifa snapped off handedly.

Rinoa looked at her with wide eyes, hands still on either side of her face.

Tifa exhaled and rubbed her eyes, "Sorry. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. This—all of this—is a little…much…to be dealing with right now."

Rinoa's eyes were downcast for a moment, but then she looked up again brightly. "It's only as uncomfortable as we let it be, and let's face it—If it were up to Squall, the three of us would never talk about it until we exploded."

Don't you dare invite me to a Girl Day, Tifa inwardly snarled. She didn't want to hate Rinoa. She hadn't spent enough time around her to hate her properly, but then again, she didn't want to spend enough time around her. She wanted her to go away and take Leon's memory of her with her…but that was an impossible and immature thing to want…so she didn't reply.

"Please believe me," Rinoa lifted her hands, "I'm not trying to come between you. I don't want to cause trouble. If I had known that Squall was with someone, I wouldn't—"

Have thrown yourself at him like a sleazy whore-bag? Tifa's inner she-beast hissed. Tifa pushed her hair out of her eyes and glanced toward the Great Maw for a moment.

"Can we not talk about this?" She cut in. "We're not friends. We don't talk about things like this. We just met. You hit on Leon…MY Leon." It felt good to emphasize that. "And it's not okay."

"Tifa, I apologized. I didn't know—"

"I don't care." Tifa lifted her hands. "I know I'm probably being irrational and whatever, but I don't care. I don't care if you had never met him before…Who just jumps on somebody after twelve years? Do you have any idea the kind of Hell he's been through?"

She swallowed and looked away again. It wasn't her place to tell Rinoa about those years that Leon nearly lost his mind searching for her. In truth, it had been before Tifa knew him. By the time she and Leon met and became friends, he had moved out of the 'search for Rinoa until I collapse' phase to 'search for Rinoa until I get moderately tired' phase.

But she recognized that haunted look in his eyes sometimes.

It had been nearly constant since that phone call earlier in the week.

"It hasn't been easy for me either." Rinoa said quietly.

Tifa looked at her.

"I spent twelve years searching too," Rinoa inhaled. "I understand that pain. I don't know what exactly he went through…but I want things to be okay. I want Squall to be okay."

Tifa winced. Leon. LEON. She didn't know 'Squall Leonhart'. She had never met that man. She had met Leon. Become friends with Leon. Been on missions with Leon. Made love with Leon. She trusted Leon…She didn't trust this 'Squall' that Rinoa kept bringing up.

No one is the same person that they were as a teenager. Especially after a war and the struggle that the Restoration Committee had gone through.

"You have nothing to fear from me." Rinoa said, quiet tears rimming her eyes. "I mean—I wasn't sure what to expect when I found Squall after all these years—and it hurts, I won't lie…but I'm…I know I've changed. I'm sure he's changed…and that scar—"

Tifa clenched her fists to keep from physically stopping Rinoa from continuing.

"I have to get to work. I'm already late." It came out in a growl.

"Tifa, please—Can't we talk about this?" Rinoa pleaded.

"No." Tifa picked up her newspaper, which had been spared the coffee massacre. "Until Leon and I sort things out, I have nothing to talk to you about. Please—" She exhaled, losing some of her fire. "Just…leave me alone, okay? Please."

Rinoa didn't immediately respond, and Tifa made two steps away before she spoke again.

"For Squall." She choked. "I know you don't want to talk to me…but Squall is probably already all confused about this anyway…Obviously we both care about him. The least we could do is try to get along for Squall's sake."

"Leon." It escaped in a whisper.

Rinoa paused. "What?"

"His name…is Leon." Tifa glared at her, hard.

Rinoa looked unsure what to say to that, so Tifa turned on her heel and walked away.

Duke, who had remained steadfastly behind Tifa's legs, trotted alongside her, obviously happy to escape the tense atmosphere between the two women. Tifa's spine stayed ramrod straight as she crossed the square and moved around the corner.

The headquarter building loomed a few blocks ahead of her, and Rinoa was behind her, out of sight now. Tifa allowed herself a short sigh as she rubbed Duke's shoulder. The dog licked her hand and scampered forward toward the skyscraper…overdue for her adoring fans.

Tifa swallowed and gathered herself before moving toward the building. She had been putting this off long enough. Things were getting out of control. They were escalating too much. It was time for her and Leon to just sit down and figure this out: get it all out in the open.

Before the secrets and lies destroyed them both.

**..:-X-:..**

Nestor's 'emergency meeting' was turning out to be half an hour's worth of real information followed by an hour of Nestor playing exposition fairy. To the less experienced representatives on the Allied Council, he sounded like he was really dealing out some intelligent, well-thought out presentation. To basically everybody else, including Leon, he was regurgitating what he had been told by Cid's recon squad.

"As it turns out, our initial estimates of two to three hundred Heartless on the ground were grossly understated." Nestor went on self-importantly. "Now, the latest satellite investigations have jumped to over a thousand worldwide."

"One thousand Heartless can be moderately dealt with," The representative from Olympus stated. "Just three years ago, the Battle of the 1000 Heartless in Radiant Garden was dispatched with after a mere three hours of combat."

"Radiant Garden," The representative from Wonderland spoke up. "is an operational military epicenter for the Alliance. Even three years ago, there were enough highly trained soldiers and agents to take on a legion of Heartless. MX9 is not so developed."

"Not to mention this…conflict…going on." The representative from Twilight Town waved her hand absently at the word 'conflict'.

While Nestor was the official representative for Radiant Garden, politically, there was always at least one original Restoration Committee member present during Council meetings. Usually it was Leon or Cid, since Yuffie couldn't sit still long enough for a procedural meeting, and Aerith was usually on call at the hospital. And Cloud…technically wasn't in the Alliance's books. An ally, just not an Ally, so…whatever. The Restoration Committee was practically the cornerstone of the Alliance and the pillar of the Radiant Garden community, so—much to Nestor's displeasure—their opinion was taken more seriously than his.

But Leon had never cared for political bullshit, so it was no skin off his nose.

"What are the details of this civil war going on within MX9?" The representative from Land of Dragons queried.

Nestor had effectively taken the floor for discussion, standing to the right of the Head Council Table, which was held by the royals of Disney Castle and the elders of the Alliance—Merlin, Yen Sid, etc. At the question, Nestor deferred to King Mickey.

The mouse king stood to address the entire Council. "The Heartless are encroaching on MX9 because there are two separate parties in that world that don't seem to be able to get along." His high pitched voice carried across the meeting hall. "Cid's team says the walls around the world haven't cracked yet, so no outside Heartless are getting in, but we need to act fast, because the darkness is getting stronger every day."

"Hatred breeds more hatred." A civilian sit-in from Agrabah murmured with folded arms, sitting a few seats from Leon's left.

"If the walls haven't cracked and we can't establish communication with the inhabitants, how are we to warn them or help them in the inevitable event that the Heartless DO break through?" The representative from Traverse Town stood. "The refugee docks and salvage stations are already over capacity from recent world collapses—"

"Don't jump the gun, Andre," Nestor lifted a hand, "The Heartless are not threatening the planet's survival yet."

Oh, what a load of-

"Of course they are." Leon sat up so he would be heard.

The Head Table looked from Andre to Leon, and Andre and the other representatives glanced his way as well. Nestor scowled.

"If there's just one Heartless on MX9, then the entire world is threatened," Leon went on. "One Heartless becomes two, becomes four, becomes eight, and before you know it, survivors are flooding Traverse Town and the other refugee ports and there's one less star in the sky."

"Your point, _sir_." Nestor barely stressed the word.

"You're saying," The representative from Atlantica's land base looked to Leon. "That every single world in the Alliance is threatened, because we all have our fair share of the beasts at home."

"Yes." Leon said plainly. "That's why we have the military. That's why we train soldiers and recruit every Keybearer who hits the radar." He looked to the Head Table. "Eventually the impassable walls protecting MX9 will crack and break, and then the Heartless are going to swarm in like locusts and there won't be an MX9 to save."

"Gummi ships cannot penetrate the impassable walls." The woman from Twilight Town spoke up. "The only way to get in there and establish a decent defensive stance or even some kind of counter-offense against the Heartless would be to break the walls ourselves or wait until the Heartless break it. Either way, as soon as the walls fall, it's all out war."

"Not to mention exposing a neutral world to the horrors outside their world." The representative from Agrabah interjected. "It's delicate enough when the world is peaceful. As His Majesty has explained, these two parties are already at each other's throats."

"The Heartless could be a common front." Nestor attempted to take back the stage. "The common enemy uniting two otherwise enemies." He lifted his hands, "We could assemble a squad of armed forces and—"

"Leave the strategies to the tacticians, Nestor." Andre rebuked.

Nestor's face began to redden, "I served two tours in the battle of—"

"Commander Leonhart." The representative from Land of Dragons stretched out Leon's formal title to effectively shut up Nestor. "Is such a campaign feasible?"

Leon paused, taking a moment to note that a majority of them were looking to him for a bona fide opinion—or even a fully fledged plan—on the matter. He tried to avoid the spotlight like this whenever possible. Nestor was a master of bullshit—but the man knew how to get a crowd on his side. So the politician handled the politics and the soldier handled the battles.

"It is feasible." He said carefully. "But it will take time to plan anything that we want to have a lasting effect. Otherwise, we're just fanning the fire."

"How much time?" Andre prompted.

Ugh, spot light, Leon inwardly grimaced at their expectant stares.

"If all the military heads got together and if they have accurate, updated statistics," Leon tried to reason out a ballpark figure. "A month."

"A month?" The man from Olympus balked.

"That world will be toast by then!" The woman from Twilight Town argued.

"The plan isn't the hard part." Leon spoke over the other murmurs of dissent. "The Alliance cannot just shell out a few hundred soldiers, artillery, and transport a few hundred tons of weaponry whenever the Council feels like it."

The representatives who'd stood up, impassioned, slowly sat, looking discontent but holding their tongues to let him continue. Nestor remained where he was on the floor, seething but also holding silence.

"Developing the plan and selecting the squads should take a week at most. The rest of that time is mobilizing the forces, debriefing the parties, and making sure everybody knows what they're doing, so we don't rush in, half assed, and make things worse." His voice started rising and he brought it down a notch.

"Thank you, Leon." Mickey's high voice acted as a diffusing statement to the tension that had picked up in the meeting hall. "I think the best move would be for the heads of the military departments to have a meeting as soon as possible."

The representatives began to murmur, but it sounded like agreement with the king.

"Thank you, Nestor." Mickey added. "I hope you'll be helping them out too."

Nestor rolled his shoulders, recovering, "Of course, Your Highness."

He stiffly returned to his seat, letting the other representatives come forward with their own qualms, debates, and suggestions…which Leon mostly tuned out. Yeah, yeah, irresponsible to not pay attention, but he had bigger problems than funding for the Allied base in Enchanted Castle or the orbiting satellites around Wonderland.

The climax of the meeting had passed. World MX9 had been the big one on the docket, and now it was lapsing into the more trivial matters. Matters that did matter, they just didn't matter to Leon at the moment. So he slipped out of the meeting hall during the lull between discussion topics.

The rest of the headquarter building was busy. Soldiers begrudgingly filing their reports, interns tripping over themselves to kiss their superior officers' asses, office workers having exasperated phone conversations with the other bases in the Alliance: a typical Wednesday…or was it Thursday?

He had barely kept track of the days since Rinoa's return. His mind was too cluttered to hold that level of thought. Too many words like 'Rinoa' and 'MX9' and 'Tifa' and 'Heartless' and 'Stasis' kept floating through his thoughts. He couldn't focus properly.

It didn't help that he was running on about six hours of sleep over the past four days.

Aerith would have his head for that; he knew he must look as unstable as he felt when Private Andrew Potter—Leon's McCallister-in-training—asked if he was okay. McCallister never would have asked a dumbshit question like that. She would have…gone about her business, maybe put vaseline on Nestor's office doorknob or something useful like that.

It just took that one ignorant question to drive Leon out of the office. He had tons of paperwork to do, and he would rather work from the apartment and incur Tifa's belated wrath than work in his office where one of his interns might dare to tell him that he looked tired.

You'd be tired too if your past caught up to your present and they both kept kicking you in the jewels, he mentally chided, leaving the headquarter building as the sun was reaching its peak in the sky.

It was unseasonably warm today, almost uncomfortable, but the breeze kept it tolerable as he walked across town.

"SQUALL!" Yuffie dropped from the upper ledge of the building that she had been traipsing around on.

She landed a few feet to his right, but between the outcry and the dramatic landing, neither Leon nor the townsfolk around them were very startled. After over ten years, you had either gotten used to the girl's spontaneity, or you had a heart attack.

"It's Leon." He automatically corrected, continuing to walk.

Yuffie skipped every other step to keep up with his longer stride. "Oh reeeally? Because I'm hearing a lot of 'Squall' lately."

"Yuffie—" He sighed, closing his eyes.

"Oh come ON." Yuffie bounced alongside him. "The first love of your life shows up just as things are getting cozy with the second love of your life and you're not the least bit…in a crisis?" She prompted.

"Firstly," He lifted one finger, "You only have one love of your life. There's no second or third or fifteenth. That's why the 'of your life' is added on there. Secondly," He lifted another finger, "I never said Rinoa was the love of my life. Thirdly—"

"Nah, nah, nah, nah," Yuffie waved a hand, "You don't tear yourself apart like you did for over a decade for a crush. You totally loved Rinoa. Now you totally love Tifa. It both rocks and sucks, doesn't it?"

Leon gave her a flat look that most people would take as the cue to leave him alone. Yuffie had developed an immunity or selective ignorance of it.

"It's not that simple." He replied when she kept walking with him.

"It's totally that simple." Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Sure, you and Rinoa were potatoes and gravy once, but then life happened and now…You and Tifa are milk and cookies."

Leon frowned at her logic and they walked in silence for a moment.

But a moment was all Yuffie could manage.

"Why does everybody complicate things that aren't complicated?" She prompted rhetorically. "You and Tifa went through…y'know—"

"Stasis." He filled in for her.

He knew Project Stasis and the controversy surrounding it were still taboo, but this was ridiculous.

"Yeah, that," Yuffie pointed at him, "You two went through that, then you woke up, and you were all—milk and cookies—lived together, worked together, bought a friggin' house together. And you're even kinda sorta maybe thinking that giving Rinoa your high school class ring competes with that?"

Having now reached the apartment complex, Leon looked at the younger woman with a sigh.

"Did Aerith put you up to this?"

"Hey, I can do the caring stuff without being told." Yuffie pouted. "Besides, I've known something was bonkers when Tifa told me she made a deal with Hades—"

Leon stopped dead in his tracks. "What?"

Yuffie paused, "What?"

"Tifa made a deal with Hades?" He asked slowly, sure that he'd misheard. "She told you that?"

"Well, not in so many words…but she was all evasive during our mission in the Underworld last week." She explained. "And Hades was all…derp…But the whole shifty-eye-paranoia-boo-hiss-light thing that Cloud did when he showed up after escaping Olympus? Same way Tifa was acting last week."

One of the reasons Leon had such a reputation on the battlefield was his quick reactions. In battle, he could take whatever the enemy threw at him, analyze it, calculate it, and retaliate with enough force or stealth to neutralize a threat. Under stress, his mind just worked that way.

But this…revelation…turned his brain into molasses and threw it out in the snow.

So much so that Yuffie reached a plausible conclusion before Leon could completely process.

"That was just a few days before Rinoa showed up!" Yuffie smacked one fist into her other hand. "You don't think she—but why would she deal with Hades to bring Rinoa back? If she was really dead in the first place…I mean…this has all pretty much fucked up your—"

Leon drowned her out, staring at the bricks on the wall of the apartment building. Tifa had…no…no, it didn't make sense. Tifa had no reason to deal with Hades. Cloud had been smart enough to know it was a bad idea, but his situation had been dire enough that he had no real choice…Tifa had no dire situation to force her to deal with the Lord of the Dead.

So…why? For what? And what were the contract terms?

"—have got to choose between the potatoes and the cookies before you get an upset stomach and DIE!" Yuffie was babbling.

Leon blinked, dragging his mind back. "What? Yuffie, stop with the food references. Rinoa is not a potato and Tifa is not a cookie. It's not that simple."

"Sure it is!" Yuffie stamped her foot, getting impatient with him. "When you're eating, you have to eat your meat and veggies, but the best part is getting to the dessert."

Leon lifted one eyebrow at her. "You know I hate metaphors, Yuffie. Make your point."

"Eventually you get tired of veggies." She winked, "But you always love cookies."

**..:-X-:..**

**A/N:** I got a little burnt out on angst in the middle there, so I threw Yuffie in…Angst remedied. But not for long, mwahaha! The first arc of this fic is about to come to a head, and then the second arc will hit hard and fast. There might be a third…but the lines kinda blur there a little, so we'll see.

I don't normally hound for reviews; any feedback that readers provide makes me happy, but this story is a completely different pacing and structure than my previous stuff. So any constructive comments on the flow or the pacing or the style would be very much appreciated! This is the pinnacle of my Lefa shrine; I really want to do it justice after all this build up.

Thank you, lovelies!


	7. Unravel

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as is Duke.**

**Messy chapter is messy, but it's like that on purpose, I swear.**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Seven: Unravel**

Leon was pacing.

His brain had been tearing itself apart for the past hour, piling theory on top of theory on top of theory, and all he had managed to accomplish was sweating through a shirt and wearing a groove in the floor from the pacing.

He felt like he'd taken a shot of adrenaline. His skin was crawling and he was twitchy, unable to focus on anything for more than a minute.

Besides the fact that Tifa had made a deal with Hades.

Yuffie tended to exaggerate her stories, but she wouldn't make up something like this. That didn't make it make any more sense, but it gave him some ground to work with. Tifa was smarter than that, at least he had given that she was. They had all watched as Cloud's dealing with Hades all but paved his road to Hell, and they had barely managed to drag him back, kicking and screaming, before he could get himself killed.

There was no way that Tifa would willingly follow Cloud's footsteps right into the belly of the beast. Hades was a master manipulator. The Lord of the Dead knew just which nerves to press in order to bend anybody to his contracts. But Leon knew Tifa, and he knew her well. Then why couldn't he think of anything that she could possibly gain from dealing with that menace?

If Yuffie's theory had any purchase to it—that Tifa had made a deal with Hades to bring Rinoa 'back'—then what? There was no base to it. He and Tifa were together. They had been through a war and what could only be called mind-rape together. Project Stasis, that virtual reality that had stripped the five of them down to nothing and nearly destroyed their minds.

He and Tifa remembered everything that happened in that simulation. And they had escaped it with the kind of bond that is only forged in the fires of a battlefield…and their battle had lasted four relentless, impossible years in that weeklong virtual mind trap. Sora and Kairi didn't remember…That was a blessing for them. Private McCallister remembered, and she had been on requested leave ever since. For her sake, he almost wished she was in an institution, but she was too thick skulled for that. It was one of the qualities that had helped her survive as his intern.

Leon and Tifa had come out of Stasis disoriented and whiplashed, sure, but they had spent countless hours mulling it over, carefully sorting their lives back into what had actually happened, and what they had only experienced in the simulation…All to avoid getting confused and going down the dark road.

Of course, Leon had imagined the 'dark road' to be liquor bottles and midnight rages through the Heartless-infested corners of Radiant Garden. Not…Hades. And even if Tifa had completely flipped her lid and decided to deal with the monster…why bring Rinoa into it? Leon had only ever mentioned the woman once or twice. Anything else she knew had to have come from Aerith or Cid. And even they didn't know much about his relationship with Rinoa.

Rinoa's return had done nothing to help Tifa. There was no absolutely no upside to this situation for her. Unless that was the point…

Growling in frustration. Leon ran a hand over his face and smacked his fist against the top of that salmon-colored monstrosity of a couch that Tifa insisted on keeping around.

"Tifa, what did you do?" He muttered aloud, staring at the coffee table.

His mind snapped to another detail of this…situation. If Tifa had made a deal with Hades to bring Rinoa back, that meant that Rinoa had been…He gritted his teeth. If she had died, why bring her back? Only five years ago, Leon might have jumped on the opportunity. But if this whole fucking war had taught him anything, it was that you can't change the past.

What was done was done and trying to cook the books of history would only end up hurting worse. In his dark days, those first several months after the invasion, if he had known that there was a Hades and there was a way to bring Rinoa back…He probably would have jumped on it. He had been really messed up those first couple of years, but since he had gotten his feet back under him, he had managed to move on, begin the healing process.

Dammit, he had even poured it all out for Tifa one night, when the most recent trail for finding Rinoa had gone cold. He gave up, he had decided, he gave up on the minuscule hope that she was still out there, still alive, still existing. He had closed that book of his life and started a new one. It had hurt and it had burned, but he had gotten through it…And Tifa had watched him claw his way back to humanity.

So why would she do this now?

His fingers closed around the crinkled upholstery on the top of the couch's back.

He was jumping to conclusions…He was assuming…Leon exhaled heavily and pushed his thumbs against his eyes, trying to find some shred of stability to lean on. He had to talk to Tifa about this…Get to the bottom of why she had been so evasive lately, and what was to this whole Hades issue—if there was really anything to it anyway.

He was getting fidgety. He didn't do well with waiting for answers. The apartment around him suddenly felt like a cage. He had never been necessarily claustrophobic either, but all of the chaos and the pressure of the past week was compounding over him, pushing him to his limit. He needed to do something, clear his head, take his mind off it for a while.

When Tifa got home, they would talk. Until then, he would have to try not to jump to any conclusions. He didn't do well with turning his mind off either. Frustration rolled over him in waves and he shoved at the couch. His fingers had been twisted around the upholstery, and when he abruptly shoved at it, the fabric tore along the seam between the cushion and the back frame.

"Shit." He released the material, staring at the frayed edges.

A small white tuft of padding stuck out, mocking him. Oh, how he hated this couch.

"Shit." He cursed again, grabbing at the tear as though to magically mush it back together.

This only caused to rip the material farther, taking it from a quarter-sized flaw to a four inch rip. The fabric was so worn and threadbare there at the top, with the rest of the weight of the cushions hanging from the frame, that he could tell he wouldn't be able to fix it himself. His knowledge of mending fabric stretched only far enough to close up bullet holes in his clothes.

Well, if you were going to do something wrong…

Leon scooped one hand into the torn flap, jerking sideways. His palm easily sliced through another foot of the upholstery. He started to tear it more, but the soft side of his hand smashed into the rough wooden crossbeam inside the back of the frame. The jagged edge retaliated like a porcupine, splinters shooting from his pinkie finger to his wrist.

"Son of a—"

He grabbed the cushion hanging from the frame and violently tore it forward. The entire section of the backrest came free with a very satisfying ripping noise. He tossed the mass aside, exposing the white cushioning underneath. After years of this couch giving him Hell, it was time that the beast actually did something useful for him.

Frustration had found its release, and Leon tore through the rest of the couch, shredding the material straight off the body of it until white fluff was scattered across the floor. The sound of the material ripping and the feel of mindlessly disemboweling the piece of furniture gave him a weird level of satisfaction.

Usually, he would take the gunblade and wreak some havoc on the Heartless that congregated around the old castle ruins, but this was close to it. He wanted to be home when Tifa came home…Sans the explanation about why he had murdered her couch…They had bigger things to talk about than that. Besides, now that he had started, he was reluctant to stop.

Eventually, there was nothing left to demolish and he stopped, standing in front of the skeletal remains of the couch. The upholstery and the padding lay scattered around, like some kind of psychotic crime scene. He found himself slightly out of breath, but for those fifteen or so minutes, he hadn't been thinking about Tifa and Rinoa and this whole fucked up situation.

Pausing, he waved some of the floating fluff away from him.

There was a knock at the door.

Leon looked abruptly over to the door and then at the mutilated state of the living room. He grimaced, not sure how he would explain this to the others or the landlord or whoever was on the other side of the door. Whoever it was knocked again.

"Leon?" Aerith. "Tifa? Are you home?"

Exhaling in a huff, he stepped over and around the mounds of couch innards. Navigating to the door, he glanced back at the mess and then turned back around, opening the door a sliver.

"What's wrong?" He asked, filling as much of the space in the door as possible.

Aerith stood in the hallway, holding Duke's leash. She looked perplexed at his awkward stance in the three inch opening of the doorway. "N-nothing. I was just bringing Duke back. Are you…okay?"

Duke stood looking down the hallway toward the elevator, her tail swishing against Aerith's skirt. Her ears were up as she kept her eyes on the elevator.

"Yeah." He grunted, opening the door a little more. "Duke."

The dog glanced his way, tongue lolling at him. Leon nodded his head toward the apartment. Aerith unlatched the leash from her collar and Leon opened the door more widely. The dog trotted past him into the apartment and Aerith's eyes followed, then widened.

"What HAPPENED?" She gawked.

Leon closed the gap after Duke, trying to hide the mess from view, but the damage was done. "Nothing." His mind scrambled. "Just…redecorating."

"With what? A chainsaw?" Aerith craned her neck to look over him at the room.

"Thanks for bringing Duke back."

"You did this?" Aerith, like Yuffie, had developed the ability to ignore what most people who take as a cue to leave, not to mention his attempt to be intimidating.

Twelve years of seeing his ups and downs had jaded her to his bravado. She shouldered her way past him into the apartment and gasped at the mess. She folded her arms as she surveyed the situation. Leon stood by the doorway, exhaled, ran a hand over his face, and walked past her.

"I told you, it's nothing." He tried to close the subject.

Aerith remained where she was behind the couch—er, what used to be a couch.

He willed her to drop it—which never worked—and got himself a beer from the fridge. As childish as it sounding, tearing the thing apart had successfully diffused his frustration for the time being. He felt almost light.

Destruction was a coping mechanism for a lot of people, and Leon was no exception. After the injuries healed and the culture shock wore off after the invasion robbed them of their home over a decade ago, he had turned the gunblade against as many Heartless as he could reach before he collapsed or was beaten down. All of that fresh rage and despair and hopelessness had found an outlet in the sound of bones breaking and death rattles of the shadow creatures.

It had been volatile and aggressive; he had needed little provocation to choke anything with a throat back then…Looking back on it now only brought up the shame that he had succumbed to that kind of inhumanity. He didn't like what he had become back then, and neither had the rest of them. For reasons he had never been able to fathom, Aerith and Yuffie had looked to him as an anchor…and he had failed spectacularly at it at first.

Clearly, from the look on Aerith's face now, she was flashing back to that time as well.

"Leon…you need to get a grip on yourself." She spun to face him.

"I'm gripped." He remarked, twisting the lid off the beer and sitting in the remaining recliner facing the doorway.

"No, you're not." She gestured around the apartment. "This is fucked up."

Aerith didn't swear often. In fact, the only times he could remember her cursing were when Cid was drunk off his ass or Leon himself had come home covered in Heartless remains.

"I'm fine." He said plainly.

"Circumstances beg to differ." She scolded.

"Okay, so maybe I'm not fine," he looked at her flatly, "But I had to do something. It could have been a lot worse than a fugly couch."

"Tifa's fugly couch. She's upset enough."

"Good."

"Good?" Aerith balked at him.

"Yes." He glared passively at her. "She's been nothing but completely calm about this whole situation. Maybe if I piss her off enough, we can actually get to the root of the matter."

"Leon…" Aerith covered her face with her hands for a moment before lowering them and looking at him hard. "This isn't healthy. It isn't helping anything. In fact, I think this is going to push Tifa away even more."

"I'm not the one doing the pushing." Leon sat up a little. "She's the one who has offered absolutely no resistance to any of this."

"You think she WANTS to lose you to Rinoa?"

"She's not going to lose me." Leon rubbed his eyes, "But I don't think she'd notice if she did…I've hardly seen her all week and—"

"She was giving you space—"

"I don't want space!" Leon raised his voice a notch but carefully brought it back down when Aerith flinched. "I don't want time alone with Rinoa. I don't want any of this…this…mess. But it's here now and it's not going anywhere and this is how I'm dealing."

Aerith just stared at him.

"I hope you know what you're doing." She breathed, "Her shift ends in half an hour."

Leon gave her a long, steady look and took a drink from his beer.

She exhaled, swallowed, and then turned and left, closing the door after herself.

His eyes stayed on the door for a moment, mulling over her words. This really was fucked up. She had that part right. Part of him hoped that this little stunt would push Tifa over the edge. At least then, amidst the yelling and the anger, she might actually open up and show some kind of response to this shitstorm around them.

Leon knew he wasn't an outwardly emotional person, and anyone around him knew that too. But Tifa wasn't so guarded. She wasn't Yuffie by any means, displaying her every thought and feeling like a damn theatre performance, but she was always quick to let her opinions and her feelings be known.

Since Rinoa had returned, Tifa had completely shut down. Conversation had all but halted, and there had been a kind of tension between her and him that he couldn't handle much longer. She was the only person he didn't have to be 'that guy' around. To spend that much time getting him out of his shell only to recluse into her own? It didn't make sense.

Duke had sniffed around the scene curiously as Aerith left, and now she was putting her nose into one of the deep gouges that cut straight to the coils on the seats of the frame. With a curious keening noise, she pawed at it.

Leon watched the dog mildly, feeling strangely at ease for the moment.

This was probably the most dumbshit thing he'd ever done, but it was done now, and Tifa would be home within the hour. Then they could get to the heart of this Hades business.

Duke began to dig and claw through the material in earnest.

Leon snorted, taking another drink. "Go for it."

**..:-X-:..**

When Tifa returned to the apartment later that evening, she stood for a full minute in the hallway outside the door. She had gotten enough work done at the office to satisfy the department, but it was another matter if she'd gotten enough work done properly. She couldn't even remember. The reports and files had just been a distraction to get her through the day.

Twitching once, she cleared her throat and sorted through her keys. Sliding it into the lock, she turned the knob and found the door unlocked. So Leon had beaten her home. Clearing her throat again, she pushed the door open and set her keys on the table by the door, looking into the living room.

She stopped.

It looked like a cloud had been slaughtered in the open room. White fluff and tufts were scattered everywhere. Some was in chunks, and some was in shredded bits. Amidst the chaos were strips of salmon-colored upholstery and pieces of support springs. The couch was just a hollowed out shell with its back to her, gutted like a fish.

"Dear God…" She breathed.

Nothing else was out of place. No signs of forced entry or robbery or violence. Just…her couch…in pieces. It took a third glance around the living room to spot Leon, sitting there, calm as you please, on the recliner, drinking a beer with his feet propped on the coffee table. He almost looked triumphant, not surprised at all by this massacre around him.

"Hey." He grunted in salutation, setting the bottle on the end table.

Duke was chewing on the remains of a cushion.

Tifa stepped slowly into the apartment, looking from Leon, to the couch, to Duke, to the couch, and back to Leon. "I think you killed it, there, chief."

He snorted, not denying the accusation.

She could only stare at the mess as she circled around into the living room, getting a good view of the front of the couch. There would be no saving it. And she had nothing to say. Of all the things that she had been expecting when she got home…this had not been one of them. Between the mutilated couch and Leon sitting there, impassive and red handed, a laugh bubbled up in her throat.

Covering her mouth with her hand, her shoulders shook as the giggle turned into a laugh. It just looked so ridiculous. The absurdity of 'Leon murdered my couch' floated through her mind and she started laughing in earnest. From his seat, Leon snorted at her. He looked tired, and there was something lingering behind his eyes, but he also looked amused at the giggles that had gripped her.

"You're insane." She shook her head, letting the laughter fade away.

Leon remained where he was. "I've been called worse."

Tifa looked at him for a moment and then exhaled as she sat on the floor by the coffee table. She propped her elbows on the surface of it and eyed the chess board. Some of the fluff had drifted between the pieces, but otherwise it was untouched. It was his turn, but he had made no motion to move one of his pieces, so she averted her eyes from the board.

A quiet pause passed between them.

"So…do I get the story behind this bloodbath or are you leaving me in the shadows?" She prompted, partially curious, partially delaying the inevitable.

Leon rubbed his temple with one hand, "I always told you I hated this couch."

She snorted, "Since day one, but to butcher it all of a sudden…?"

"Sorry." He muttered.

She blinked, "No, it's okay…I mean…half the reason I kept it was because it drove you crazy."

He smirked dryly at that. "I mean…sorry for the past week. Things have been…off."

She exhaled, scooting closer on the floor so that she was leaning sideways against his legs. "Yeah, I'm sorry too." There was her window. "We need to talk."

He grunted in agreement, eyes staying on her, quiet.

"Okay." She started, shifting slightly. "Okay, I'll start."

When he offered no interruption, she drew a breath.

"I know I've been a little…distant since this all started." She said slowly, "You're the one having your world turned upside down and I've been selfish and…probably bitchy."

He made a low, neutral noise.

She took that as a prompt to continue. "And I think…I mean—" She ran a hand through her hair, flustered. "I think it has to do with the fact…"

Dammit, why couldn't she just spit this out?

"I haven't been entirely honest with you." She said measuredly, trying to read his reaction, but the man was a stone. "I did something stupid."

He blinked at that, a flash of something she couldn't interpret darting across his eyes.

"Like what?" He asked.

She recognized that forced tonelessness in his voice. She had heard him use it in interrogation rooms, coaxing an answer he already knew out of the accused. She locked eyes with him again, and this time she interpreted that flash in his eyes. He was waiting for her to confess her sin…but not like he was waiting to learn the sin. He was waiting for her to say it herself.

Did he…did he already know? Had he found out already that she had known that Rinoa was alive? That she had made a deal with the devil himself to find out, only to hide it from Leon for nearly three months?

Giving her head a little shake, she cleared her throat. "I wasn't…surprised…when Rinoa showed up last week."

"You seemed pretty upset to me." He said, sitting up a little.

"Of course I was upset." She straightened as well. "All the pain you went through putting her behind you…and then she just came out of the woodwork, out of nowhere. I was worried. I'm still worried." She explained. "About you, us, everything."

"But you weren't surprised." He was cutting to the chase.

Tifa lifted a hand to her eyes briefly before removing it and exhaling. "I made a deal with Hades."

Saying it out loud, to his face, had a double sided effect. It was like a hundred pounds rolled off her shoulders, but landed straight in her gut. Relief for finally coming clean. Heaviness when she realized that Leon didn't look surprised at all. In fact, he looked like a fear had been confirmed.

"What were the terms?" He asked, that carefully constructed mask of composure held firmly in place.

THAT was his first question?

Tifa swallowed as she deliberated. In all truth, she wasn't crystal clear on the deal. Hades had told her that he would give her the truth—the truth about Rinoa's fate over the past decade—in exchange for only her silence. That she never tell Leon what she knew, or that she had made the deal at all. There had been no 'or else' nor any kind of ramification mentioned that she could remember if she broke that agreement.

"Dammit, Tifa." Leon moved his feet back to the floor, standing and walking away from her. "What did you do?"

Tifa stood as well. "It was right after Stasis. We were still trying to figure out what was real and what had happened in the simulation. I couldn't tell you now why I did it."

She was babbling, but she couldn't help it. Now that she was spilling the beans, she was reluctant to stop.

"Tifa…You know better than that—with Cloud—" Leon looked at her painfully.

"I know," She grimaced. "It was stupid and short sighted and I don't know what I was thinking. But it's done now."

"Oh, yeah, it's done all right." He rubbed his forehead.

She blinked, "What does THAT mean?"

He paused, staring a hole in the wall for a long moment. Then he frowned and looked at her. "Stasis was three months ago…You made this deal three months ago?"

She lifted her shoulders. "It was a few weeks after we came out of Stasis…no less than two months ago I guess. Why? What does that matter?"

Confusion colored his face. "Then why did Hades just now fill his end of the bargain?"

It was Tifa's turn to look confused. "What? His end…I haven't even told you what his end was!"

"Rinoa." He said, as though that name answered everything. "Right?"

Tifa's throat constricted slightly, but she clenched her jaw and didn't look away. "So you already knew about it." When he didn't respond, she glanced to the side and back, "How?"

"Yuffie told me you were acting weird last week in the Underworld." Leon faced her. "I didn't want to assume anything, but the pieces fit."

Tifa took a step toward him. "Pieces? What pieces? Let me explain—"

"Why did you do it?" He launched the question as though it had been fighting to get out of him from the get-go. "If you wanted out…There are better ways than this."

"Out?" She gawked, "Of what?"

"This!" He gestured between them and ice flooded Tifa's chest. "If you wanted to break up, then at least do it to my face. Bringing Rinoa back from the dead…What were you thinking?"

Horror boiled up inside Tifa. "Leon, I didn't bring her back. She was never dead!"

He looked pushed past the brink, half turned away from her.

"Guilt has been eating me alive since she came back." Tifa pressed. "I've been terrified of losing you." She grasped his wrist to reinforce her point. "I don't want 'out'. I don't want to break up. That's what I'm trying to avoid!"

Leon pulled gently out of her grasp, stepping away from her. "Guilt…about what? This deal with Hades? What did you do if you didn't bring her back?"

The vague terms of the deal haunted her and Tifa swallowed. "I can't—"

"Tifa, please—" He looked at her, pleading now. "I'm trying to trust you right now, but you're making it really hard."

Moisture burned across the back of her eyes, but she choked it down. "You can trust me. I need you to trust me…but I can't tell you what the deal was about."

Leon looked pained for a long moment, but then his features evened out. Tifa knew as soon as his posture relaxed that it was going downhill.

"Leon—"

He lifted a hand, gently making her stop talking, and walked away from her. She watched helplessly, as though paralyzed, as he crossed the living room, picked up his gunblade and his keys. He was…leaving? Nausea overpowered the horror and the guilt in her chest.

"Leon, please—" She was the one pleading now.

He hung the weapon at his hip and faced her. "I think…I think we both need to cool off. I'm—" He briefly glanced at the broken couch. "I'm going to stay at Merlin's tonight."

"No…" She exhaled the word, "We can talk about this—" Tears rimmed her eyes for real this time, but she couldn't hold them back. "I love you."

Leon's shoulders hitched. He squinted his eyes closed briefly before stepping over to her. Tifa trembled and he lifted one hand behind her neck, pulling her into a kiss. It was a rushed, clumsy kiss that hit most of her upper lip, but she returned it with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, putting her hands on his arms.

He pulled away too quickly. "I love you too. But at this rate, something is going to be said that can't be taken back…and it's probably going to be me…so I'm going to Merlin's."

It was the last thing Tifa wanted, but it was far from her to be making demands at this point. So she just swallowed and forced a calm into her voice.

"Okay." She wheezed, wiping her eyes.

Leon appeared to fight with himself for a moment. Then he released her and moved away, crossing to the door and leaving the apartment. He closed the door softly behind him.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Tifa gagged, covering her mouth with one hand and grabbing onto the back of the recliner. The mess of the couch all over the floor was suddenly all too indicative of her life and it tore her up inside. Fighting the urge to vomit, she sank into one of the kitchen chairs and cradled her head in her hands.

She and Leon had had fights before. Everybody has arguments. But this…nothing like this. Every argument that she and Leon had, they got it out there and resolved it. What was the saying? Don't go to bed angry…but now he was gone. Then again, she had been the one to leave him in Stasis. She had been the one to call it quits.

But Leon wasn't calling it quits…He had told her that he loved her before he left…He just needed to cool down…Since when did Leon need to cool down? She subconsciously answered herself: since his girlfriend, the one person he needed to depend on above all others, had lied to him and betrayed him.

Duke keened at her from her spot curled up under the coffee table.

Tifa sniffed and wiped at her eyes, but the tears kept coming. She should be chasing after him right now. Go after him and fight for him and tell him everything! But Hades had killed people for less than breaking a contract. Who knew what kind of sick stunt he might pull if she told Leon everything?

But now Leon was gone specifically BECAUSE she hadn't told him everything.

And right then, that alone was worse than dying.

Her thoughts went spiraling out of control. She was losing him. No matter what he told her, she had hurt him and Leon didn't forgive easily. She wasn't even losing him to Rinoa! She was just. Fucking. Losing. Him.

Unable to sit here alone with her mind running rampant, she snatched up the phone from the counter at her right. Blinking through the tear-blurred vision, she dialed the first number that came to her mind. Actually, the second number. Leon's was always the first number to come to her mind when she needed to talk to someone about anything.

And the second number…Old habits die hard.

The phone picked up on the third ring. "Hello?"

"Hey." She choked, hating how pathetic she sounded. "You said if I needed to talk—"

On the other end of the line, Cloud paused, "Where are you?"

She ran a hand across her forehead, closing her eyes, "The apartment."

The response was immediate. "I'll be right there."

**..:-X-:..**

**A/N:** Constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated!


	8. Undivided

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as is Duke.**

**RIP Couch.**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Eight: Undivided**

Barely ten minutes after Tifa hung up the phone, Cloud was knocking on the door. She had never been one to cry often. Funerals of close loved ones, when she was stressed or angry beyond words, and for some reason, when the volleyball named Wilson floats away in that survivor movie…And right then, she was only aware that she was crying.

No matter how many times she wiped her eyes or splashed water on her face, the tears just kept rolling down her cheeks. It was frustrating and not helping her at all. If Leon hadn't already mutilated the couch, Tifa bet she probably would have taken a swing at it now.

"It's open." She mumbled hoarsely, leaning against the kitchen wall and staring into the living room, completely numb.

The door opened and Cloud slipped in, closing the door after him and stopping solid when he saw the mess in the living room. When he spotted her, he crossed the room to her in three long strides.

"What happened?" He asked in concern.

Realizing that more of those damn tears were cutting down her face, Tifa ran her wrist across her face in exasperation. There was no clean explanation for this. If she could have explained correctly in the first place, then Leon wouldn't have—

A humiliating sob escaped her and she lifted a hand to her mouth.

"It just…got out of hand." She sniffed, running one hand through her hair.

Cloud's eyes widened considerably at that, looking from Tifa's bloodshot eyes, to the dismembered couch, to the mess of the living room, and back to Tifa and her near-hyperventilating. He shifted and touched her arm.

"Here, sit down." He hooked his ankle around the nearest kitchen chair and dragged it over. "You're shaking."

Tifa sat heavily. "It's a mess…It's such a mess, Cloud…Only I could screw up this bad."

"This isn't your fault." He shook his head, getting her a glass of water and a box of tissues. "Every mess can be cleaned up."

She watched him move around and a wet snort escaped her. "Aerith is rubbing off on y-you." Her voice hitched in that annoying way when one is crying, and she cleared her throat.

He smirked dryly at that but then sombered, sitting across from her at the table. "You want to tell me what happened?"

She sniffled again, using a handful of tissues to clear her face again. She 'wanted' a lot of things. She wanted Leon. She wanted Rinoa to take leave of their lives. She wanted to go back in time and stop herself from dealing with Hades. Cloud looked unexpectant, waiting for whatever disclosure she decided to give him. She swallowed and exhaled slowly.

"I messed up." She started roughly. "I did something that I shouldn't have…Then I lied about it…And this whole week with Rinoa coming back…It's been uncomfortable and tense and it's NEVER been uncomfortable and tense with Leon."

Another person would have pressed for details, but Cloud didn't.

"So I decided to tell him…and he—" She closed her eyes briefly and inhaled. "He reacted exactly how I feared he would."

Cloud had quietly watched her face, but for a moment, his eyes slipped down her neck, her arms, her torso, to her legs, before drawing back up to her eyes. Like he was looking for something that wasn't there. "What did he do?"

She gestured toward the cotton-coated living room. "I've never seen him lose it like that."

He frowned and glanced around the apartment again. He looked disturbed. She had figured that he would react more subtly than Aerith or Yuffie would…but growing up with him and spending so much time around the like-minded Leon…She saw the rage building up in him.

"What?" She said, catching his eyes investigating her body again.

He gave her a measured look and then looked at her hand, resting on the table. "Did he hurt you?"

Horror spread across Tifa's face. "What?"

"I'll kill him." Cloud was on his feet.

Tifa grabbed his wrist. "Cloud, stop. Leon didn't—He couldn't have—No, God, no."

He stared at her hard, as though to gauge if she was telling the truth or just making excuses for Leon. "Stop protecting him. You deserve better than this."

Tifa exhaled, "I deserve something all right…"

Tears blurred her vision and she covered her eyes with one hand, releasing his wrist. This was so pathetic. She deserved every stab of pain that this whole fucked up situation was digging at her. She deserved Leon walking out on her. Instead, she had gotten a soft kiss and a gentle reassurance that they would work through this.

"Hey." She felt Cloud move closer. "Hey, hey, it's okay. I'm sorry. I didn't mean—"

He was new at this whole comforting-friend thing. She didn't hold it against him.

"I'm sorry." She wiped her eyes again in a futile effort to clean herself up. "Ugh, this is so stupid. I feel like an idiot. And I look like a banshee."

Cloud paused a moment, straightening. "I don't know about 'idiot', but you're beautiful. You've always been beautiful."

Tifa choked through a laugh. "You're such an asshole."

The corner of his mouth quirked and he stepped into the kitchen. "Where are your garbage bags?"

She blinked. "Under the sink. What—"

"I'll clean this up. You just relax." He ducked out of view for a moment.

There was a sound of crinkling plastic and when he reappeared, he had one large black trash bag in each hand. Tifa stood, wiping her hands on her pants.

"No, I can—" She started.

"Take your time." He waved her off. "You look exhausted—"

"Cloud, I need to do something besides sit here and cry or I'll go crazy." She said firmly.

He looked at her, sighed, and fluffed one of the trash bags open. "All right."

They started picking up the pieces and the fabric and the padding that had been strewn all over the living room and part of the kitchen. Neither of them spoke as they stuffed the material into the bags, packing it in and making the mess fit. Once all of the larger bits and pieces had been picked up, she dug out a broom and swept up the remnants while Cloud lugged the ruined frame down to the alley dumpster.

The spot in the living room where the couch had been looked so vacant and empty that Tifa avoided looking directly at it as she gathered the last fragments of fluff and coils in pile and scooped them into the last trash bag. Duke walked around the area to get from the coffee table to the kitchen, as though the couch was still there, just invisible.

She sighed and tied the bag closed, backing up to set it by the other bags. Her calf knocked against the coffee table behind her. A few of the chess pieces wobbled in their places, and one of the black knights that had been removed from the game fell to its side, rolling off the table and onto the floor.

The door opened and she looked over expectantly. When Cloud walked in, she felt her shoulders slump. Leon had said he was staying at the Restoration Committee house. He wouldn't be coming back tonight. She wished her subconscious would get that. Cloud wordlessly picked up the trash bags full of fluff and upholstery and carried them out to the dumpster as well.

Duke padded past her. Tifa exhaled and ran a hand over her face. At least her eyes and cheeks were dry now. Small blessings. Puffing her cheeks slightly, she knelt down to pick up the lost knight but paused when it wasn't where it had landed.

"What the—" She looked under the coffee table and on the surrounding carpet.

It was a chess piece. It hadn't just up and walked—her eyes drifted to Duke—away.

The dog was chomping on something, dropping a small object over her paws and gnawing at it. Tifa spotted a glint of black brass.

"Duke, no!" Tifa lunged forward.

The golden retriever scooped the knight up in her mouth and jumped to her feet, bouncing out of Tifa's reach. Tifa landed on her knees and rounded on the dog. Duke hopped a few feet farther, leaning forward so that her rear end was in the air, tail swishing.

"This isn't a game…Drop!" Tifa commanded.

Duke just wiggled her back end playfully. The canine had never obeyed anyone else's orders but Leon's. Tifa didn't know why tonight the dog would listen to anybody else, like her. Cloud returning through the front door got the dog's attention. As soon as she looked away, Tifa swiped her hand across the dog's mouth, grasping the slobbery brass and sliding it out from Duke's teeth. She scampered backward with the sticky thing in her hands.

The dog yelped and darted backwards at the assault. She licked her nose and regarded Tifa with what might have been called a glare. 'You win this round, but at least I didn't lie to Leon.' Tifa frowned and sat up, looking at the black knight. No, if Duke could speak, Tifa doubted she'd sound that bitchy.

"What was that?" Cloud prompted, standing just inside the doorway.

Tifa sighed and held up the piece. "She was trying to eat this."

He squinted, "Is that a horse?"

"A knight." She gestured to the chess board, climbing to her feet and going to the kitchen to clean it off. "That set is probably older than me. Leon found it with all the pieces together and intact. He leaves and one hour later, one piece manages to get ruined."

Cloud frowned as she fretted and looked to Duke, muttering flatly. "Bad dog."

Duke huffed at him and trotted out of the living room, moving into Leon's bedroom. Tifa ran the piece under water and wiped it off. It was solid brass, so the teeth marks were mild and thin. Drying it off, she carried it back into the living room, placing it on the coffee table.

"That dog has never liked me." Cloud remarked.

"Yeah, well, neither has Leon. Like master, like canine, eh?" Tifa snorted.

He eyed the chewed-on knight for a beat. "How old is this set?"

She sat back into the recliner, glad for the shift in conversation. "I'm not sure. It belonged to Leon's family, his mother. It was one of the only things he took out of his family home before they bulldozed the entire district to clear it for reconstruction."

"I didn't take Leon to be one for nostalgia." He commented, standing where the old couch had been just hours earlier.

"He's not." Tifa rubbed the back of her neck. "But we all need our little reminders, right? Chess sets, oversized motorcycles, pink ribbons…" She twirled one lock of her hair around her index finger. "Our work schedules have been nearly opposite for the past several weeks. This chess game started out as a joke: just me messing with how neurotic he is. But then it became a daily back and forth. Even if we didn't get to see each other or talk throughout a day or two, the game went on and…that became our little way of saying 'hi', 'I'm still here', 'I miss you'." She swallowed, regaining herself. "I guess that sounds kind of stupid."

"No." Cloud looked awkward for a moment, but then opted for sitting on the floor, eyes on the papers littering the coffee table, but his question directed at her. "What was the fight really about?"

Tifa inhaled once, then again more sharply. They both stared at the poor little battered knight on the coffee table for a long minute.

"I made a deal with Hades." She exhaled in a rush.

"What?" He looked at her so fast that his neck cracked.

She breathed in again. "After we came out of Stasis, I was afraid that life would go back to normal. Too normal. That he would resume this hellbent search for Rinoa. So I went to Hades not long after Stasis and agreed that if Hades told me if Rinoa had survived, then I wouldn't reveal to Leon what I know."

Cloud stared at her, suddenly pale, speechless.

Emotion started to make her chest constrict, but she choked it back.

"But Leon thinks that I made the deal to bring Rinoa back to life…to…to trick him into breaking up with me or something." She ran a hand through her hair. "But I don't. I don't, I don't, I don't." She shook her head. "Rinoa was alive this entire time, just as lost and mixed up as Leon. I only wanted to know if she was alive or dead. I never wanted her to waltz into his life and fuck everything up."

Cloud continued to stare at her.

She leaned forward, elbows across her knees. "I don't know how to fix this. Hades warned me not to tell Leon what I knew or…shit." She cursed, sitting up. "But if I don't tell Leon the truth, then I'm going to lose him anyway. And Rinoa…fuck!" She shoved out of the chair, to her feet, biting on a fingernail.

Cloud hung his head, exhaled, and stood as well.

"Tifa…Hey, Tifa, look at me." He grasped her arm.

She reluctantly looked at him, arms folded.

He stared into her eyes. "Everything is not fucked up." He looked pained. "I'm sure you had your reasons for seeking Hades. God knows I can't judge you for that…but there is always a loophole…You can't tell Leon what the deal was about, but I can."

Tifa looked at him, eyes wide. "You—"

"I'm outside of the deal. YOU won't be the one breaking the deal. The truth gets out there, and if Leon wants to snarl at the messenger…better me than you." He offered.

She just stared at him for a long minute. She had never thought of that. So simple…But hearing the truth from anyone other than Tifa herself would put Leon on the warpath. As long as that warpath led back to Tifa, she would handle his wrath.

"Cloud—" She threw her arms around him, hugging him close. "Thank you."

He started slightly, but then returned the embrace. "It's…It's nothing."

"No, it's not." She withdrew, getting her breath back. "You pulled through for me tonight. I didn't…I mean, just—thanks for…being here. After all the shit I gave you over the past year—"

"Shit well deserved." He lifted a hand.

She inclined her head, folding her arms again. Maybe people could change. If Cloud could go from evading all things emotional to this…then maybe Leon could forgive her for betraying him like she had. Then perhaps they could put this whole mess behind them and move on. It was the first spark of hope she'd had in a week, and she was hesitant to look directly at it.

"Are you okay?" He asked. "Do you want me to stay a while?"

Tifa hugged herself, not looking directly at the empty couch spot either. "That's okay. I've leaned on your shoulder long enough. Thank you."

He nodded. "All right. Try to get some sleep."

As he left, she sat down and stared at the black knight. "Not likely."

**..:-X-:..**

Leon didn't go to Merlin's. There were too many opportunities for the members of the Restoration Committee to pop in, see him, ask questions, and generally pick at his brain when his brain was raw. Like running a brush over sunburned skin.

He wandered around Radiant Garden for a while, taking solace in the empty streets and the cool night breeze to frown all he wanted without anyone giving him sage advice or telling him to 'turn that frown upside down'. Of all the things that had been turned upside down in the past week, his frown was not one of them.

He ended up back at the body shop. It was closed, but he knew where Cid hid the spare back door key. He slipped inside, hooked up one halogen floor light by Tifa's green jeep, and tried to distract himself. The jeep had been a pathetic mess of rust and duct tape when Tifa bought it at bargain price from a washed up dealer. Should have been sold for scrap metal, but Tifa had always liked the challenge of salvaging something with potential from wreckage.

But of course, she knew nothing about cars or their interworkings, so Leon had ended up being the one to renovate the thing. Not that he knew too much about cars either, but between Cid and the internet, he had figured out the important stuff. It still didn't run, and you had to use pliers to get the radio to work, but it was coming along.

It was also a neverending side project for when Alliance politics frustrated him or something was nagging at him. Tonight he was escaping the nagging part of his mind. Luckily, there was plenty to work on, so he buried himself among the steering alignment, spark plugs, and transmission innards.

His cell phone rang a few times—Nestor, Cid, Nestor again, and an extension from his own department—but he let them go to voicemail. He really just wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone right now. Any time his mind drifted, he roped it back into the realm of headlights and battery connectors.

It was nearly noon the next day before Leon realized that he'd fallen asleep in the back of the jeep. There were no back seats installed, so it was flat panel floor from the driver's seat to the back hatch. His body immediately punished him for lying on the hard metal surface all night—and all morning—and he groaned, rolling onto his back and staring at the roof of the vehicle for a moment.

His mind recollected itself faster than he would have liked. Tifa, the couch, Hades, a deal, Rinoa, World MX9, leaving the apartment, Tifa's face when he closed the door, the smell of metal and oil from working all night in the body shop, the taste of Tifa's mouth when he kissed her, his cell phone going off at all hours.

Pushing himself up into a sitting position, he squinted through the windows of the jeep and saw that there was only one other person besides him in the garage. That one kid who Cid had hired to do custom paint jobs. He was silently jamming to whatever music was blaring from his headphones, drumming his hands across the hood of the next car he was prepping.

Leon ran a hand over the side of his face that he'd slept on, and he specifically felt the sharp indentations from the uneven flooring in his skin. Perfect. Grimacing, he scooted toward the back end of the jeep and climbed out of it, lifting his phone. Eight missed calls. All from either his office or Nestor's office. That didn't bode well.

"Oh look, it lives." Cid's voice barked across the garage floor.

Stretching his neck, Leon looked sideways to see Cid stepping out of the small office built into the side of the garage. He grunted something in greeting—even he wasn't sure what it was—and closed the hatch on the jeep.

"And it speaks." Cid snorted, crossing over to him.

He eyed the skeleton of the jeep. Cid had never held back his thoughts about the 'beat up piece'a shit' that Leon was working on, how it was a 'fuckin' waste of time' and only good for 'shootin' at when your pissed'…That explained the small buckshot holes on the passenger side...

"D'you sleep here last night?" Cid prompted, hands on his hips.

Leon looked over the body of the vehicle, surprised to see that he'd gotten more done than he though, and back at Cid. "No."

Cid snorted and pointed at his cheek, "Bullshit."

Leon could feel the indentations making that side of his face stiff and tingly, and he frowned, walking past the older man to start cleaning up the mess he'd fallen asleep in the middle of. Cid let him be for a moment, but then cleared his throat.

"Rinoa's lookin' for you." He grumbled.

Leon's shoulders flattened and he exhaled, straightening and closing the hood of the jeep.

"You avoidin' her?" Cid pressed.

Leon clenched his jaw and feigned busy-ness to ignore him.

"You avoidin' Tifa too?"

He glared at Cid at that. The older man's eyebrows shot up.

"If you've managed to piss off two women at the same time, you are stuck between a rock and a fuckin' hard place." Cid commented. "Although Rinoa just wanted to talk to you. I ain't seen Tifa yet…You too have a—"

"Cid." Leon finally interrupted, stepping away from the car. "Leave it."

Cid chewed on his toothpick for a few seconds, studying Leon's face. Then he shrugged and plucked the twig out of his mouth. "A'right. Suit yourself." He paused and pointed at him seriously. "But you need to get your shit straight before you do anything. Comprende?"

Leon sighed, "Yeah."

Cid grunted, exchanged his toothpick for a real cigarette, and walked away.

Why would Rinoa be looking for him? Leon frowned, moving to the driver's seat of the jeep and sliding into it. He caught his reflection in the rearview mirror and halted. The indentations weren't even fading yet. He looked like he'd slept on…gridiron. Grimacing, he pushed the key into the ignition to test it.

He and Rinoa had had their conversation, caught up on what had happened in the past twelve years, come to grips with the end of their relationship, and moved on. What else was there to talk about? Tifa. Rinoa wanted to talk about Tifa. Leon hissed lightly and turned the key.

It had been a week since Rinoa had returned to his life, but it felt like it had been a month already. Seeing her that night in the hotel lobby had shot pure adrenaline through his blood and made the hair on his neck stand up. It had been the first time that he'd seen her, talked to her, or just been around her since before the Heartless invaded.

But now the novelty of her return had worn off and she was…annoying.

After practically four years growing closer to Tifa, getting in tune with the woman's quiet moods, getting on the same wave length with her thoughts, and moving from a casual friendship to a real, romantic relationship…A few months dating Rinoa didn't compare. Rinoa had always been like a cool breeze. She brought relief on a hot day and made you feel at ease for a while, but the moment would pass. Tifa was like a salve on a burn. Cool and healing and providing long term support. His relationship with Tifa was as though they were a tree and barbed wire, growing around each other despite how different they were.

She had seen him at his lowest, darkest, and most vulnerable. He had seen her broken and lost and hurt in every kind of way. And it was okay. It was comforting. Rinoa had only ever seen the good days: before the Heartless, before the wars, before the scar.

I will watch your back like she never could. You will never desert me like he did.

The whole origin of their friendship right there. He had needed someone he could depend on, fall back on, because…dammit, he wasn't a god, he couldn't do everything. She had needed someone who would catch her if she fell, whom she could trust not to leave her cold like Cloud.

Yet here they were…He had fallen back onto nothing, and she was free falling.

A tap on the window snapped him out of his reverie.

Three things immediately registered. His eyes had fallen closed during his musing. Cloud was tapping on the window. The engine was running. Leon paused, staring past the steering wheel at the dials and meters on the dash board. The dials were twitching and almost all of the warning lights were on…but they were on. The engine was running. It was alive.

Cloud knocked on the window again. "Hey, open up."

Leon deadpanned and wrangled the door open, slipping out. "What do you want?"

"To talk." The other man replied tersely.

Leon paused. "We—" He gestured between them. "—do not talk."

"About Tifa." Cloud pushed.

Leon made a fist, but kept it at his side, turning away from Cloud. "Dammit." He rubbed his forehead and put the pieces together. "She called you."

"Yeah, she called me…What the Hell?" Cloud lifted his shoulders. "Said you went off."

"I went—" Leon faced him, "I went off?" He seethed. "Fuck it all…"

He grabbed his phone from the inside of the jeep. He would rather talk about good and evil with Xehanort himself than talk about Tifa with Cloud. That wasn't how this worked. She didn't get to send a delivery boy to talk sense into him. Leon went off? Shit yes he went off! What was he supposed to do? 'Oh, Tifa, it's okay. You've only lied to me every day since we came out of Stasis…' And if she lied about Rinoa, how could he trust her at all?

"She knew—" Cloud was walking after him.

"Go to Hell, Cloud." Leon threw over his shoulder as he crossed the garage floor.

Cloud wasn't taking no for an answer. "Tifa tried to tell you last night, but you wigged out and left. Now she realized that she can't tell you, so I'm—"

"What? You're what, exactly." Leon growled. "Playing messenger? If Tifa has something to say, she can tell me herself. That's the way fighting works. We're both adults. We don't need to pass notes."

"Then will you listen?" Cloud grabbed his arm.

Leon spun around and smashed his fist into Cloud's face, knocking him back. Not expecting the blow, Cloud staggered back a few steps, releasing Leon's arm and lifting the back of his hand to his jaw. His lip was bleeding. Leon shook his fist a bit to loosen his knuckles.

After a moment, Cloud removed his hand and spat blood onto the concrete floor. Leon waited. If what he had to say was important enough to take a sucker punch, then he'd listen.

"Tifa made a deal with Hades—" Cloud started.

"I knew that." Leon said flatly. "She told me that much."

"But not to bring Rinoa back from the dead." Cloud looked at him. "She was never dead. Tifa just wanted to know for her sake. For your sake."

"MY sake?" Leon lifted a hand, "How has any of this been for MY sake?"

Cloud ran his tongue over the bloody part of his lip once. "Stasis. That's how. Take it from somebody who knows what desperation feels like—"

"I know what desperation feels like." Leon snapped back.

"And it's going to kill you both." Cloud's voice went up a notch, uncharacteristically. "You want to dig your own grave, be my guest. But Tifa didn't ask for this Hellbent search bullshit. She knew that as soon as you got your feet back under you, you'd be searching for Rinoa again…and Tifa would be left behind…again." His shoulders slouched slightly.

Leon grinded his teeth, "I'm in love with Tifa. I would DIE for her."

"And she would LIE for you!" Cloud barked back. "The deal with Hades was that he tell her whether Rinoa was alive or not, and in exchange, she could never tell you. That's why she couldn't tell you everything. Hades kills people for looking at him the wrong way. He would get creative in punishing her for this."

Leon felt like he'd been slapped in the face. "Why would she do that?"

"Because she's a moron!" Cloud yelled this time. "And for some reason, she loves you! So stop being a fucktard and go talk to her."

"There you are!" Rinoa's bubbly voice undercut whatever reply Leon had been about to throw back at Cloud. She was crossing over from the doorway, where Cid was trying to stop her.

Leon groaned. He did not have TIME for this!

Cloud hissed under his breath and walked away. "Fix it, Leonhart."

Rinoa blinked, watching the blond stalk away. "What's—" She paused, shrugged it off, and looked to Leon again. "I've been looking all over for you. They've been trying to call you all day from the department, so I offered to bring the news to you myself. Why are you avoiding me?"

Leon was seeing red, and he didn't trust himself to answer her.

Rinoa bit her lip and dug at her pocket. "Anyway, the man—Nestor—said it was super important. And since I needed to find you too, I just thought—"

"I didn't want you to find me." He grumbled.

"Oh, you don't mean that, grumpy." She produced an envelope, marked with the official Allied insignia. "Nestor said it was urgent."

Leon took the envelope from her and mindlessly opened it. At the moment, he didn't care what this letter said. It could say he'd won the lottery and he wouldn't care. He couldn't even read it right now; his mind was miles away. He needed to talk to Tifa, get all of this sorted out. Particularly the part about why…why the FUCK she had dealt with Hades after so much time she and Leon had spent carefully making sure such stupid decisions didn't happen?

…_commander of the first campaign to World MX9…_

His eyes snagged on the words in the letter. He should be reading this. The Alliance only sent him paperwork in this fashion when it was serious, but he couldn't concentrate. Tifa had infected his mind, and for the first time in years, he wished that he could shut her out.

…_departing in three days…_

Wait, what?

…_no deadline is certain, but all the necessary measures will be taken…_

"What is it?" Rinoa was asking. "You have a really weird look on your face."

…_minimum of two months based on MX9, heretofore referred to as 'Jamestown'…_

These were…deployment papers. They were sending him to MX9…to Jamestown…for—two MONTHS! Leon skimmed down the page, reading it properly this time. He had been placed in charge of an entire platoon as commander…nearly 50 soldiers. There would be three other platoons deployed to Jamestown…in three days. It wasn't a request.

There was no way that he could sort things out with Tifa in less than three days.

Shoving the letter into the pocket of his jacket, he headed for the door.

"Squall…?" Rinoa walked after him. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"It's Leon!" He yelled back. It slipped off his tongue easily after so many years correcting Yuffie.

Rinoa didn't pursue him and Leon reached the front door of the garage. If he was leaving for two months, he deserved to have HIS say about this whole…Hades…thing.

"Where's the fire?" Cid prompted, seeing Leon bolting.

"I'm going to get my shit straight!" Leon snapped in answer, leaving the garage.

**..:-X-:..**

**A/N:** It all blows up next chapter, and we get to the real fight. The previous chapter was just a warm up. Bwahaha…tease.

Constructive criticism welcome and appreciated!


	9. Undone

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as is Project Stasis and the Alliance.**

**This was the most difficult chapter to write in this entire story so far. It look longer than I thought to pull together; so much I wanted to include but due to plot constraints I had to be careful what I slipped in this chapter. **

**As always, constructive criticism and feedback are welcome and appreciated!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Nine: Undone**

The apartment was empty, as was Tifa's office, and eventually Leon found her at the new house in the recently-completed residential district. The front door was wide open. The interior of the house was naked. No furniture. No wall hangings or even curtains. A light sheen of dust covered the floor since the house wasn't lived in yet. There were only a few boxes and crates that they had moved from the apartment.

Between Stasis and working with the Alliance and everything else, moving in had been a slow process. Now it had halted for the time being.

Leon stepped through the front door. To the right was the living room. To the left was the kitchen and dining room. A vacant study room beyond the living room. Stairs straight ahead, leading up to the second floor. A bathroom between the dining room and the study. Two bedrooms on the second floor, and another bathroom. None of them were furnished, but he and Tifa had labeled the rooms weeks ago in their heads.

The emptiness of the house was suffocating, and he stepped deeper into the house, following the disturbance in the dust until he spotted her.

Tifa was standing in the study, facing the only window. Her back was turned toward him, but her arms were folded and Leon could tell she was biting her fingernail. She only did that when she was deep in thought. She had to know he was here; footsteps always echoed in an empty house. He remained where he was in the doorway to the study.

"You knew."

Those two words barreled across the gap between them like a laser.

The silence that followed fell like an iron curtain.

Even though he could take two steps and be within arms' reach of her, it felt like she was a hundred miles away. He had no idea what she was thinking, what she was feeling, what she was doing here. He felt like he had known her so well all this time, but suddenly…she might as well have been a stranger. And that made him feel as hollow as this house.

"I'm not sorry." Her reply was soft, quiet.

Leon stood there, staring at the back of her head. "You're not sorry for lying to me…for three months…"

"I'm sorry that I lied to you." She half turned to look at him. "But I'm not sorry for what the lie was about."

Any kind of calm that Leon had regained since talking to Cloud began to boil over.

"You knew that Rinoa was alive. That she was out there. And after everything I went through trying to find her…You let me live in that lie." He said lowly.

Tifa faced him completely now, a mix of anguish and anger simmering in her eyes. "What would you have done if I had told you?" Her arms were stiff at her sides. "You had let her go. You had moved on. With me or without me, you were getting better."

"That wasn't your call to make." He growled.

"Was it?" Her voice kicked up a notch, cracking slightly. "I've heard what you were like before; when you were searching for her. Days gone without sleeping, without eating, without speaking to another human being. You were living on hate and desperation and slaughtering every Heartless that you came across."

"Don't—" He lifted a hand. "Don't talk to me about the darkness of the search…You HEARD what I was like? I SAW you when you were chasing after Cloud."

"It's not the same—"

"It's exactly the same." He gritted his teeth.

"I knew Cloud was alive." Tifa replied, her face taut. "I just wanted to help him. I wanted him to know that he wasn't alone. That there was light to balance the darkness. You didn't know if Rinoa had survived and the guilt was eating you alive."

Leon glanced away from her and then back. "You had no right to know about Rinoa and not tell me."

"I was trying to protect—"

"Protect me?" He snapped. "I didn't ask for your protection! And Rinoa came back anyway. Don't you think a little heads up would have softened the blow? I don't need protection."

"Yes you do." Tifa snarled back. "You are not this big, bad, invincible man, Leon. I know that you want to be, but you're human. And humans get hurt. I didn't want you to get hurt."

Leon grimaced and his shoulders deflated. "Then why…" He cleared his throat, "Why did you do this?"

Why are you hurting me like this?

"I was scared." Tifa spat out in confession. "I was scared that if you knew Rinoa was alive, that you would leave. And after everything we had gone through together…I couldn't bear the thought of that."

Leon stopped and stared at her. "Instead, you never gave me the opportunity to not leave. You assumed that I would drop everything for the obsession, that I was like Cloud."

"You're not like Cloud…" She exhaled. "Can you blame me for taking precaution? He dropped everything to hunt down Sephiroth. He avoided me for months when all I wanted was to help. He didn't trust me, but he trusted Aerith. That hurt." Her shoulders trembled. "I know it was selfish, but I just couldn't do it again."

Tifa was just as damaged as he was. Leon had known that very soon after meeting her for the first time. They both had their own emotional baggage weighing them down. That was why it had been so easy to fall for her. Deep down, they were the same. Innocence bludgeoned, jaded, and unwilling to get close to anyone again for fear of the same abuse.

He could understand the selfishness. He wasn't guiltless in the selfish department. But the extent…the lying and the manipulation…He didn't understand that.

"I never left." He said, and it came out in a low rumble. "I have never left you."

She swallowed once, "You left last night."

Leon straightened, "Don't you…dare…"

She squared her shoulders at him. "I wanted to get this all out in the open yesterday, and you left me."

"I've BEEN HERE!" He abruptly yelled.

Tifa narrowed her eyes but didn't say anything.

"I was here," Leon snapped, "Through Stasis…When we were trapped in that simulation and…you thought Cloud was dead…that everyone was dead…through the bombings and the massacres and the fires…I was here! You left in Stasis. Not me."

She started to interrupt, but he talked over her.

"I've been here through the nightmares, the near-death experiences, the mental breakdowns, the trauma. All the ugly and all the fear…I was here. So don't you DARE act like I ran out on you." He pointed at her. "And I wouldn't have left for Rinoa."

"Yeah?" She straightened, "This entire week, where have you been? Catching up with Rinoa, talking to her, when we both know that she is still in love with you!"

"I don't love her!" Leon roared, "I'm in love with you, you dumbass, and you won't let me love you."

Tifa looked pained. "Why are you doing this now? You've had all week to tell me this."

Leon nearly screamed in frustration, and ended up just gawking at her. He had just told her…just bellowed at her what he was feeling. Leon, commander of the Alliance, pillar of the Restoration Committee, killer of Heartless, had just spilled his guts to her willingly and she was hardly acknowledging that at all?

"It's never enough for you." He exhaled. "I'm never enough for you—"

"That's not what this is about—"

"Isn't it?" He wheezed, straightening. "First you were chasing Cloud. Then Stasis got in the way. Then we woke up and it was all made up. Now you're dealing with Hades? It's like you're trying to find ways to make this more difficult than it is."

Tifa swallowed hard. "I'm not."

He felt deflated. "Then what are you doing? Here? What do you want?"

"I want you." She said breathlessly. "I want a life in this house. With you. I want to push all of this behind us and move on…but I don't know how. Every time I try, I just make it worse."

Leon wrestled with himself. Her words threatened to douse the fire in his stomach, but something worse was burning through his mind now. Tifa was used to wanting what she couldn't have. To having to fight tooth and nail to get what she needed, never mind what she wanted. Her norm was avoidance, rejection, and competition. That was her baggage, her burden.

Unfortunately, part of his burden was trust issues, and she had just mottled it. Every time he got close to someone, they were taken away. Either because of the Heartless or because of their own doing. He had convinced himself that he was just better off alone, better off not trusting anyone. But then he had trusted someone, for the first time in a long time, and this had happened.

"I want that too…" He said quietly, eying her. "But I want that with someone I can trust."

"Leon—" She choked.

"And I can't trust you."

"Don't do this—" Tears made her eyes glint.

Leon looked away from her, unable to stand the agony on her face. It felt like he had swallowed lye. He wanted to go back in time and un-know what she had done. Ignorance was never bliss, but it would be preferable to this monster eating away at his soul. Tifa had been the only person he trusted for those four years in Stasis, and when they escaped that virtual reality, she had been the only one who could understand what it had been like.

But she had lied. It had all been a lie. What else had she lied about? He didn't want this. He didn't want to not trust her. It was like part of him had just been amputated. She had taken the time and the patience to tolerate his inability to open up. She had dragged him kicking and screaming back to the land of the living and the healthy. Coaxed him out of the angst and the guilt and the nightmares.

Only to lie to him now and destroy all of that?

Why?

"Please…just wait." She lifted one hand. "Let's take some time, give each other space…before we both do something we're going to regret."

Leon paused, staring at the lower part of the wall. "Space."

Tifa breathed carefully. "I know that you're angry right now. I want—We can fix this. Tell me that we can fix this."

He didn't respond for a long moment. Tifa was about to get much more space than she bargained for. The letter in his jacket pocket was burning a hole in his shirt. Two months…He winced and looked at her.

She stared back, looking angry and scared and desperate all in one expression. Last night she had just been upset about him leaving. Today she was upset and furious that…that what? He couldn't even read her anymore.

He didn't know if they could fix this.

"I've been selected to command a platoon," He finally said, pulling out the letter. "in the first war campaign on World MX9."

He had read the letter twice fully while he had been trying to track Tifa down. The facts and the details were seared into his brain.

"The ships leave in three days." He said flatly. "Two months isolated on MX9. The Alliance devised a way to temporarily lower the world's impassable walls, to let the Allied squads in, and then reseal the world to prevent more Heartless from invading."

Tifa was slowly paling. "Two months."

"It's a non-optional post." He said. "Is that enough space?" It came out with bite.

She inhaled, her eyes narrowing. "How are we supposed to work through this if you're gone for two months?"

"Do you want to work through this?" He said quietly.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I love you before you believe it?" She barked.

"About as many times as I have to before you hear it!" He snapped back.

Tifa looked for a moment like she might take a wild swing at him, but her fists stayed at her sides. "Then I'm going to MX9 too."

"No." He lifted a hand.

"Leon, what do you want?" She threw up her arms. "You want to talk, we're talking, but now you're being whisked away? How can I earn your forgiveness, or at least be around you to work through this if you're gone?"

He took a step toward her. "Maybe I don't want to forgive you or be around you right now."

She took a dangerous step closer. "Look me in the eye and tell me that's what you want."

"I want to trust you." He bit back.

"Then trust me." She hunched her shoulders.

"You lied to me. I can't trust you."

They glared daggers at each other.

"This is our house." She muttered. "This is our life. You're stuck with me. I'm not letting you go that easily. Be pissed at me all you want, but if you think that this is how it ends, then you are gravely mistaken." She said angrily. "I gave up on Cloud. I'm not giving up on you."

Leon bristled and stared her down.

He was stubborn; he knew that. He also knew that once Tifa put her mind to something, she would make it happen. Between both of their thick skulls, this would either work for them or against them. They would either battle it out and repair the damage, or that same force of will was going to drive that wedge deeper until it tore them apart. And he already felt like he was coming apart at the seams.

"I never said it was ending. But you got the 'pissed at you' part right." He growled.

Tifa ran a hand through her hair. "You can really be an ass."

He folded his arms. "And you're full of shit."

She made a low noise of anger, turning away from him.

"Like you have a right to be angry." He took a step closer to her. "You're the one who lied, and then lied about why you were lying. I'm just trying to—"

Tifa turned back and abruptly slapped him. It stung and took him off guard. He took the slap and then glared at her. She breathed heavily once, and then suddenly closed the gap between them and pushed her lips against his.

**..:-X-:..**

She was so tired of being angry.

The anger that had moved into her stomach and grown like a cancer through her entire body; it was like constantly being cooked from the inside out and she felt like if she didn't do something besides fume soon, she would explode.

The anger escaped in that open palm slap, and the sheer relief of releasing some of that pent up frustration crashed over her. But so did regret: another emotion she was getting sick of. Leon had never raised a hand to her in anger…ever…and now she'd slapped him, and when she was the one in the wrong too.

And everybody thought that Leon was the messed up one in this relationship.

The thoughts crashed over her in that second after the slap. The way he just took the blow had stabbed at her like a knife, as had the subsequent glare. And he looked so furious and hurt and confused that her body ordered her to kiss him before her brain could catch up.

Then he returned the kiss and she stopped thinking at all.

It was an aggressive kiss and she grabbed his arms, neither pushing him away nor pulling him closer. Just feeling the coiled muscle of his shoulders. Leon leaned into her, his hands moving up her back. She bit his lower lip lightly, sliding her fingers under the front of his jacket.

He rolled his shoulders, working with her hands to shrug out of the jacket. It fell to the floor and then he had deftly unzipped the front of her vest, his lips working their way down her jawline and over her throat. She exhaled at the warmth of his mouth and peeled off the vest, fighting out of the restricting material and dropping it to the floor, leaving her in the tank top.

Her center of gravity began to shift backwards and she stepped back to keep her balance. Leon followed and her back hit the wall after two more reverse steps. She grunted slightly at the abrupt stop, and it seemed to echo in the empty study room. Leon looked at her briefly and she stared back, grasping the bottom of her white tank top and pulling it upward. The shirt rolled over her head and she wrestled out of it.

Once it was clear of her shoulders, he tugged it off of her arms impatiently. Slightly breathless, she gripped the bottom of his white T-shirt, lifting it. Leon released her upper body just long enough to lift his arms and let her pull the shirt off of him.

Oh, that was much better. She ran her hands across his chest as he kissed her mouth again. His skin was warm and familiar. Fighting wasn't something they knew how to work through sometimes, but this…they were good at this.

The tail material of her shorts unlatched and he made quick work of her belt, working the clothing over her hips and down her thighs. Calloused hands that killed Heartless turned to feather light touches as his fingertips trailed back up her thighs, across her smooth stomach, and up to her breasts.

A sigh escaped her and then it was her turn. While her lips traced the scars lining his chest from years of battle, her hands fought with the four belts he insisted on wearing. Her conspiracy theory was that it made it harder for her to get them off of him, driving her crazy. Well, it was working.

Leon continued to knead her breasts, his breath hot on her neck as she finally cracked the code and the belts came loose. With a triumphant inhale, she pushed her hair out of her face and kissed under his jaw, behind his ear, and then his shoulder. One hand lingered at the rim of his pants.

"Get these off." She murmured, kicking off her shoes.

As much as she knew it would turn him on if she wrestled his pants off like he'd done with hers, she didn't have the patience to wrestle with the leather at the moment. Clearly he didn't have the patience for it either, as he quickly dispatched with them and his boots.

Tifa pressed up against him, lifting one leg to hook her knee at his hip. He took the cue and pushed her against the wall, bracing her there as she lifted her other leg, both ankles around his waist now as he held her up against the wall.

She grabbed his shoulders to steady herself and a rueful laugh escaped her as one of his hands ran up her thigh, tightening around her backside. Her skin tingled and she involuntarily rocked once against him, leaning her weight forward against his chest. He put his face against her neck for a moment before moving her away from the wall.

Then they were both on the floor.

Her bare back touched the cool wooden floor and she shuddered at the initial contact, loosening her knees from his waist and easing her hips to the floor. As she reclined, Leon traced his lips up her ribs, the underside of one breast, across her collarbone, and finally to her mouth. Tifa wound one hand in his hair, holding him in place as she kissed him back. He moved on top of her, staying between her legs as their lips locked together.

One of his hands slid under her back, unclasping her bra. It came away easily, giving him unhindered access now. She roamed her hands across his upper body, her fingertips following the uneven lines of the scars over his back. She knew each and every one of these scars, just like he knew all of her scars and imperfections.

But today wasn't the day for the scenic route across his body. He was still pissed at her, and she wasn't exactly happy with their fighting either. There would be no foreplay today. She had to make it up to him. Three days followed by two months would only drive the wedge deeper between them.

With this in mind, she worked her hand down his torso and slipped it under the waistband of his boxers. She quickly found what she was looking for and wrapped her hand around it. Leon involuntarily flinched, looking at her eyes. They normally took their time, but then again they weren't normally steered by pent up anger at each other. He didn't stop her.

As she began to stroke her fingers along his length, he hovered over her, letting her take control for the time being. Her ministrations soon had the desired effect and she withdrew her hand. He leaned against her as she stopped and then kissed her hungrily.

"Guh, why do you do this to me?" He growled into her mouth.

Instead of replying, she just looked up at his eyes, laying her palm slowly against his jaw. She tapped her thumb against his cheek bone twice and brushed his hair away from his face. Maybe she was still losing him. Maybe there was such a thing as fighting too hard to keep what you had. Maybe she had done this to herself.

But right now, he was still here, and she was still here, and there was absolutely nothing keeping them apart…physically anyway. They could deal with the emotional turmoil later.

He tilted his head against her hand, turning his face into her fingers and kissing her palm. The tenderness of the touch made her belly flutter. She traced one finger over his eyebrow, following the straight line scar that ran from his forehead, between his eyes, and to the side of his nose. He shifted back slightly and she let go.

Tifa lay still as Leon drew one hand down her neck, between her breasts, delicately over her ribs and hipbone. Gentle but also impatient. He hooked two fingers under the band of her panties and she lifted her hips, making it easier for him to tug the material away before quickly discarding his own boxers.

When he pushed into her, she arched her back slightly, a soft gasp escaping her. She shifted, running her hands under his arms and over his shoulders as she adjusted to him. Sensing that she was ready, he rocked once against her and she moaned.

The anger and the frustration that had driven them to this point melted away, replaced by a hunger and a desperation that they were both familiar with. They established a comfortable rhythm and moved together in tandem. He forced her arms up above her head and she pushed her chest against him as he thrust into her. A choking groan echoed in the empty room.

Their movements became heated and more erratic, and soon sweat had broken out over both of their bodies, glistening slightly in the sunlight coming through the sole window. Leon lowered his face to her neck as they moved, making a low noise in his throat as his breath rolled across her bare skin.

Tifa lost track of time, her eyes closing as she rocked against him, with him. She dragged her fingers through the grooves and dips of his back, over the sloping muscles over his shoulders. They moved together, both panting with the effort and the pressure. The friction between them was pushing her to her breaking point, and she could feel him beginning to tremble with the exertion as well.

Breathing through a moan, she lifted up slightly, kissing his neck and pushing her shoulder gently against him. He released her wrists and looked down at her. She pushed again and he put up little struggle. He rolled onto his back, taking her with him. Tifa braced her knees on either side of his hips, her hair spilling over her shoulders as she began to ride him.

She leaned over him as she moved and his hands spread wide across her back, pulling her down into another kiss. She braced one hand on the floor by his head, breaking the kiss with a gasp. Her brows knit together as she felt herself reaching her limit. He groaned against her and a shudder ran down his body. She covered his mouth with hers, swallowing his voice as he hit his climax.

Seconds later, she cried out as her own orgasm rolled through her core, sending waves of ecstasy rocketing up and down her spine, turning her limbs to jelly. Her body involuntarily continued to move against him, working their way out of the rhythm as the denouement. Completely spent, she collapsed on top of him. She could feel his heart beating rapidly as his chest heaved for breath. A smile crept over her mouth and she pressed her lips to his collar bone, again softly to his shoulder, before rolling off of him.

His arm moved with her to the floor and she pillowed her head on it, looking at his face and trying to figure out what he was thinking. His neck and forehead had a sheen of perspiration to them, but his eyes were brighter than she'd seen them in a while. Leon was a beautiful man, and he was all hers…if only she knew how to make a relationship, a real relationship, work.

For a few minutes, neither of them said anything.

The wooden floor was warm from the contact with their bodies, and her skin stuck to it as she looked up at the ceiling fan above them. The early afternoon sunlight was pouring in, casting rectangular shadows across the ceiling and the walls. The walls needed painting still. They were still that neutral off-white color. A blank slate. The new residential district was an entire clean slate for the inhabitants of Radiant Garden. A chance for everyone to put the past behind them, to leave their nightmares behind them, and to begin anew, with something completely fresh.

This house was her and Leon's clean slate. The war, the bloodshed, the lies, the anger, the hurt: this was a sanctuary from that, from reality. She always found a calm whenever she came to the house. It was a place to look to the future, not dwell on the past. Here, now, feeling the air move over her naked skin and listening to Leon breathing beside her, Tifa felt like balance had been restored. Nothing had been resolved, but she had looked over the ledge and come back alive. They could fix this.

"Not exactly how I was thinking we would christen the house." She murmured after a moment with a small smile.

Leon snorted at that, chuckling lightly before lifting a hand to rub his eyes. He turned his head and looked in her eyes. Tifa looked back, feeling like they were in a safe bubble. The big bad real world couldn't get them in this room. But they couldn't stay here. It was never that easy. As though he was thinking the same thing, his lips flattened and he grew serious.

He sat up and she moved away so that he could get up. She ran her hands through her hair a few times, just for something to do with her hands while he got dressed. Three days. It wasn't long enough. It wasn't nearly long enough. And then two months was far too long. Helplessness began to creep up on her again and she averted her eyes, pulling her clothes back on as well. She and Leon were like halves of the same whole, and it had taken them both too long to see it. It had happened so slowly. Accidentally meeting…bumping into each other around Radiant Garden…working patrols together…becoming friends…becoming…more…moving into an apartment…surviving Stasis…surviving post-Stasis…buying a house…So gradual and yet still so messy and complicated. But it was a complicated that had kept her alive.

"Marry me."

The words blurted out of her before her brain even realized what it was processing. Her joints locked up as soon as she registered that she'd said it aloud, and she stared at the floor. Leon stilled across the room, clasping his belt back on, staring at her. Tifa inhaled slowly, looking over at him and swallowing hard.

"Marry me." She said it this time in full control, but with a tremble.

A pause passed as they both stood there, facing each other.

"Tifa…" His tone was ambiguous, but his expression was startled.

"I need you." Her voice cracked and she swallowed again. "You're my oxygen."

Leon stared at her with a look that she couldn't decipher, and started to speak but his cell phone rang shrilly, cutting him off before he could say anything. He automatically reached for it, but his eyes stayed on her as he pulled the phone up before glancing at the caller ID.

"Nestor…the debriefing for the campaign." He said flatly.

She folded her arms slowly, shoulders tucking toward herself and feeling vulnerable now that the question was out there, hanging between them like a gaudy chandelier. He looked apologetic and flipped the phone open, lifting it to his ear.

"What…Yes…I'll be there shortly…I know." He rubbed his forehead.

The voice on the phone, Nestor, was still talking when Leon hung up the phone and slid it into his pocket. He looked over to Tifa again and she knew the pin had found their safety bubble.

"They're meeting in fifteen minutes." He said quietly.

She exhaled carefully, "Leon—"

She couldn't go to MX9—to Jamestown—with him. This was a large operation. They needed all hands on deck to secure the other world, but they also needed enough military power to maintain protection over Radiant Garden. If Leon was going, and with Cloud and Yuffie on active missions constantly to the other worlds, the Alliance would never allow Tifa to leave the bulk of Restoration Committee work to only Cid and Merlin. It was only logic.

At this point though, she was tempted to throw logic out the window. Hell, she had already done that when she asked Leon to marry her.

He stood by the door, ready to go and silently inviting her to come along. Tifa ran a hand through her hair again, glanced around to make sure she hadn't left anything behind, and then stepped out of the room after him.

They left the house, locking the door behind them, and the cool air of Radiant Garden reminded Tifa that reality was right there, ready to shove them both back to the ground whenever the cosmos felt like it. Leon hadn't answered her. She stopped walking, standing on the sidewalk. Leon took half a step before he realized that she wasn't walking with him and stopped, turning to look at her. She lifted her downcast eyes to his face, suddenly uncertain again. Five meters ago she had been so sure. But out here, on the sidewalk, outside, she didn't know.

It was a question thrown out after a heated argument and angry sex. Impulsive. Not thought out. She didn't regret asking, but she was feeling less and less confident by the second.

As if reading the uncertainty in her eyes, Leon returned to her side and touched her shoulder, placing a kiss against her forehead. She closed her eyes and breathed in the smell of leather and gunpowder that always followed him around.

"It's supposed to be my job to ask that." He murmured into her hair.

"Sorry." She whispered, feeling the gravity of her words. "I'm so sorry." For everything.

He held her close for another moment before releasing her and stepping back. He grimaced for just a moment, blinking a few times and swallowing hard before looking at her again carefully. She nodded and held her arms about herself. He had to leave. She had to stay.

So he returned to the headquarter building, and she walked home. Apart.

**..:-X-:..**

**A/N:** (head/desk/head/desk/head/desk) Gah! Leon! (fetal position) Normally writing Leon's character comes pretty naturally to me, and I've yet to hear of him being OC in my previous works...but the dude would not cooperate with me this chapter! Especially that scene at the end...then again, let's consider how he might really react if a woman beat him to the punchline of a proposal...Argh, still...dissatisfied author is dissatisfied...

I wish I had a couch to murder...

Anyway, next chapter will be damage control and the wrap-up chapter for the first arc of this story. Chapter eleven will start the second arc. This is a good time to point out that I do read, adore, and respond to every review that my works receive. This story in particular is very feedback-sensitive because it is the ultimate climax of my Lefa stories. I won't hound you for reviews, just know that I am grateful for all feedback.

For those loyal readers and reviewers, thank you so much for sticking with this story! I really appreciate your comments!


	10. Unbroken

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are the assorted OCs smattered about in this chapter.**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Ten: Unbroken**

_9:13 p.m._

Black pawn to F4

_2:33 a.m._

White bishop to B3

_11:56 a.m._

Black rook to E3, takes white pawn.

_6:45 p.m._

White queen to D2.

_4:35 a.m._

Black queen to B3, takes white bishop.

_2:30 p.m._

The last three days had been mayhem.

The Alliance had always been reactive in the aftermath of a Heartless invasion: tending to survivors, sending soldiers to secure what was left of the world—if the world had survived, and trying to help loved ones reunite with each other.

The MX9 Campaign would be the first mission for the Alliance to be proactive in trying to prevent a full-scale Heartless offensive on a neutral world. It was uncharted territory, and the Council was trying to wade through the bureaucratic swamp while the Allied military focused solely on preparing and exacting the plan for how to succeed in the campaign.

Because of the nature of the mission, representatives and civilians alike were getting involved in the feasibility of it and the assumed right of the Alliance to effectively 'invade' Jamestown before the Heartless did.

Some were opposed to the initiative: that breaking down the impassable walls surrounding Jamestown and going in with guns drawn was the exact same method that the Heartless themselves used when attacking a world.

Some were opposed to the method: breaking down the walls was going to turn a thousand Heartless into a hundred thousand, opening the floodgates on the primitive and inexperienced MX9, not to mention that the inhabitants of the world had no idea what was happening.

Some approved of the movement: going in sooner rather than later would help curb the Heartless pandemic and enable the natives of Jamestown to better prepare themselves, decreasing the shock value when all Hell broke loose.

Some approved of the new technology: the ability to restore the impassable wall after it had been effectively broken would be an exponential leap forward in the war effort against the world-killing darkness.

Everyone had their own opinion. Not just in Radiant Garden. Something about this campaign had dug deep into the minds of nearly everyone in the Alliance. Media and publicity and secrecy had surrounded it, and as the days counted down to when the platoons would be deployed, the focus on how dangerous the mission truly was began to sink in.

Basically, the Alliance was sending 200 men and women to not only combat several thousand Heartless, but to also make contact and negotiate with the natives that lived there…in the midst of a near-civil war. The soldiers ranged from weapons specialist to martial artist, to snipers, to magic specialist, and of course healers, pilots, and the like.

By Radiant Garden standards, every individual Allied soldier could easily dispatch with one hundred low- to medium-level Heartless. But because there had been no previous contact with MX9, there was no telling what kind of Heartless would be there waiting for them.

But as of three o'clock that afternoon, those 200 soldiers would leave Radiant Garden and find out.

And it had been making Tifa nauseas since she got up that morning.

For the past three days, she had been working 14 hours at a time in the Allied Headquarter building in downtown Radiant Garden. Living on break room coffee and fast food delivery. Staggering home for three or four hours of sleep before staggering back to the office. The red tape of this campaign was a mess, and whoever invented paperwork needed to die.

Seeing as how she had barely seen much less spoken to Leon since parting three days ago, she figured he was under the same, if probably worse, stress. He was commanding one of the platoons, so he had been locked up in the military quarters of the building about as long as she was trapped drowning in paperwork.

When they did see each other, it was very brief. Spotting each other across the department beehive of cubicles. He came home to the apartment to crash for a while just as she was leaving to hit the grind again. The chess game resumed. A text here and there. It wasn't the big 'sit down and discuss' that both of them wanted at this point, but it was all they were going to get at the rate that time was moving.

It felt like things had cooled off between them at least. Tifa didn't feel like dirt whenever she talked to him, and he didn't seem as angry at her anymore. Then again, with things going on like mobilization of artillery, time limits on air traffic into MX9, and stock of rations and healing items in the Gummis, their whole argument seemed a little overblown.

Cloud and Aerith both checked on her a few times, but Tifa knew it was impossible to gauge what was stress concerning Leon and what was stress concerning the chaos in the department. Yuffie and Cid were bogged down even worse than Tifa, since a majority of their trainees and soldiers were the ones being deployed. Leon's department had always been efficient, but even his interns were scrambling around in caffeine-highs.

It was all a little too chaotic. But it distracted everyone involved from the whole 'Leon and Tifa' debacle, so there was something.

Tifa signed off on the last of her back-logged reports and sat up straighter, rolling her neck and stretching. The building felt quieter today. The hump of the work had mercifully passed them, and now everyone was so drained that they just kept working…like zombies.

For the first time in nearly two weeks, the stack in her inbox was lower than the stack in her outbox. Tifa stared at it for a minute and then groaned, peeling herself out of her chair, which she'd been glued in for the past few hours.

Standing, she paced her office a few times to get circulation back in her legs, before stepping out into the corridor. Both her and Yuffie's departments had practically meshed together over the past week, since their specialties were so closely knit, and Tifa found that she almost knew all of Yuffie's interns' names by now…if not, at least she knew their faces.

Rinoa had been around the headquarters too. The building was so short-staffed considering all of the work, that Tifa couldn't bring herself to be bothered by her. The woman acted as a department courier, copier, and coffee-fetcher. She had energy and enthusiasm, Tifa had to give her that.

Walking out into the catacomb of cubicles, Tifa didn't see Rinoa around and exhaled, walking over to the break room, where four coffee makers had been running round the clock. She poured herself some in a paper cup and caught one of her interns' attention.

"Private Cape." She waved her over.

Cape crossed over to her in that 'I should move faster but my legs are pudding' way, but she reached Tifa curtly and straightened.

"Ma'am?"

"What's our ballpark percentage of completion on paperwork for MX9?" Tifa sipped at her coffee.

"Ballpark…about 95." Cape answered. "We can't proceed until we start receiving logistics after contact in about six hours."

Tifa nodded, "All right. That gives us six hours to try and organize—" She paused, looking from Cape to the other interns.

They were all dragging their feet, circles under their eyes, clothes rumpled, and faces pale. They were just as run ragged as she was, and could all do with a full night's sleep and two square meals that didn't require a microwave. Even Yuffie had been dragging her heels for the past few hours. Tifa paused, looking around the floor-wide office space, but the usually hyperactive ninja was nowhere in sight.

Come to think of it, she hadn't seen Aerith or Cid or Yuffie all day.

"Take the next five hours off. Everybody." Tifa raised her voice to get the attention of everybody. "We made the deadline, people."

The rest of the office glanced over at her.

"So I'm ordering everybody out of the office and into that thing called fresh air for a while. Get sleep. Get food. Get laid. Get something other than paperwork done." She said.

The other interns all exhaled simultaneously in relief, Cape included.

Tifa watched them all stand and move around and looked to Cape again.

"Where is Yuffie?" She asked.

Cape blinked, "She's gone with the others."

"Others?" Tifa set her coffee on the counter.

"Aerith and Rinoa…the hangar." Cape helplessly tried to explain.

Tifa froze and looked at the clock on the wall.

It read 2:50 p.m.

The campaign platoons were scheduled to leave Radiant Garden at exactly three p.m. Leon was scheduled to leave at three p.m.

"Shit." Tifa abruptly bolted from Cape's side.

She sprinted across the floor, maneuvering around the meandering interns, and darted into the first open elevator that she came across. Punching the button for ground floor, she ground her molars as the elevator descended too slowly.

How, how, HOW had she lost track of time? Today of all days! She had gotten so wrapped up in paperwork…That wasn't an excuse! Dammit, dammit, dammit!

As soon as the elevator doors opened, she shot out, crossed the first floor lobby like a bullet, and ran out into the hot afternoon sunlight. After so long cooped up in her office trying to make the deadlines, her eyes were momentarily stabbed by the light, but she blinked rapidly to adjust her vision as she aimed her feet toward the hangar.

There were no ships in the sky yet, so she still had time.

But even if she got there by 2:55, Leon would already be in the ship. The doors would be closed. The engines would be on. Shit, she should have left the office half an hour ago for any chance to…say goodbye.

Cursing under her breath with each step, Tifa sprinted from the headquarter building, barely heeding civilian traffic and hastily apologizing to those she nearly trampled.

Three days. She had had three DAYS to talk to him, to see him, to just be with him until he had to leave for TWO MONTHS. But they had both been sequestered to their own little caves to prepare for this campaign. Even though the time restraints had been out of both of their hands, Tifa felt guilt stab at her with the panic as she raced to the hangar.

Why hadn't Yuffie or the others called her? Maybe they had and she…hadn't heard it…Oh, it didn't matter! Hindsight. She spotted the flat roof of the hangar as she swerved around a corner, body protesting after so long stashed behind a desk.

There was a crowd of people around the hangar, come to say farewell. This was the largest deployment of Allied soldiers at one time in Radiant Garden history. Platoons of 50 or even 100 weren't uncommon, but this was an event. The crowd was outside the fence surrounding the hangar, and there were a few guards making sure that no one did what Tifa was about to do.

Which was crazily bound past them into the belly of the hangar, where the massive Gummis were on full throttle to take off.

But two of the guards were Leon's interns, Privates Cooper and Potter, and when they saw her, their effort to stop her was less than convincing. Cooper smirked at her as she escaped his lazy attempt to stop her. Potter didn't move at all.

Then she was past them and slipping through the doors into the hangar.

Yuffie and Aerith were in the panel room with Cid, who was overlooking the launches directly. Rinoa was walking back from the ship to the closest left. The first ship began to taxi out of the hangar. Dammit, Tifa didn't even know which ship he was in!

"Tifa?" Rinoa saw her first.

Tifa staggered to a halt, gasping for air and not caring how ridiculous she looked—barging in here like this.

"Where have you been?" Yuffie leaned out of the panel room, looking both amused and irritated. "Did you two already say goodbye beforehand or something?"

"No," Tifa barked, "Where is he—"

"About to take off." Cid snapped at her from his controls.

"I know that, but which—" Tifa started.

"The red one." Rinoa answered, gesturing toward the ship slated second to last to take off. "I told him that you'd make it."

"Red—" Tifa spotted it. "Do you know if—"

"Talk later, go now!" Rinoa touched her arm. "If you hurry, you might at least see each other."

Tifa hesitated just a moment, staring at her, but Rinoa hastily pointed toward the ship, and Tifa hurried away.

There were five Gummis: red, blue, green, gold, and black. All bearing the Allied insignia: a navy shield with a Keyblade and a feather crossed in silver. Each of the ships was much larger than the standard Gummis. They were double reinforced, and were heavily laden with weaponry, ammunition, healing items, and all the materials and rations necessary to sustain 200 people for two months.

The device that Merlin and the scientists had devised to both break and re-seal the impassable wall was in two pieces. Both pieces were mounted on either side of the first carrier, the gold one. The device looked like an oversized gatling gun.

The gold ship had exited the hangar and was preparing to be the first to take off. Blue was right behind it, followed by green. Next would be red, and then black last.

Tifa stopped, still out of breath. If she got any closer, she'd be in danger of being incinerated by the thrusters on the back of the blue and green ships. Reeling herself in, she put her hands on the back of her hips to keep from keeling over. She gained her breath, squinting at the red ship.

Wasn't this the part where the man comes running out of the ship, cue joyous reunion, touching goodbye, and happy ending? Maybe in the movies, but this was reality.

The gold ship lifted off, followed by the blue, followed by the green. The red followed, and Tifa could only watch as it followed its sisters out of the hangar. The black moved after it.

"Good bye." She murmured, at a loss. "See you in two months."

**..:-X-:..**

_One hour earlier…_

"Everything looks good here." One of Cid's recruits gave the thumbs up on the device mounted on the gold Gummi.

Leon moved out from under the control panel inside the cockpit of the gold Gummi. The wiring and the connectors all looked ready to go. The whole concept of blasting apart the only thing protecting a world from the Heartless still gave him a headache, but the fact that they would be able to close it again after landing made it a little easier

Roughly three quarters of the soldiers were loading up now. The different trainees and specialists moved around and among each other in a net of organization and efficiency that made Leon relax slightly. Only a percentage of the soldiers on the campaign were directly from his department. His interns were somewhat renown throughout the Alliance as being efficient, organized, and no-nonsense. But seeing Cid's equally notorious laidback interns as well as even Yuffie's high-energy recruits moving about, Leon found it hard to blindly identify who belonged to which department. Which was a good problem to have in this instance.

The more cohesive the squads, the easier the transition from sealed departmental training to amalgamated in-field work.

The remaining quarter of the soldiers was still outside, saying their goodbyes and see-you-soon's to family and loved ones. Most of the cargo had been loaded, and it was closing in on time to load the people onto the carrier for takeoff. Leon didn't summon them away immediately, giving them a little more time. One of Cid's interns…Miles, he recalled, was leaving a wife halfway through a pregnancy. One of Yuffie's interns was the breadwinner of a family of twelve. One of Leon's own interns was a newlywed. He didn't rush the farewells.

But he wished they were over with already.

There was no one that Leon needed to personally say goodbye to, aside from the Restoration Committee members. Yuffie and Aerith were dealing with their recruits in the hangar. Cid was moseying around, grumbling and smoking as usual, making sure his ships were being handled properly. Tifa's interns were working jointly with Leon and Cid's to triple check all of the supplies. He hadn't seen Tifa all day.

He wanted to say goodbye to Tifa. More than that, he felt like they needed to say something…anything to put some closure on the past two weeks. Their interaction had been slightly awkward ever since that afternoon at the new house, and he really didn't want to leave for two months with that being their last conversation.

Marry me, she'd said.

Call it spur of the moment, call it a moment of weakness, call it a meaningful outburst, but Leon called it crazy. They had been together for practically four years now. Four years of relaxed friendship, comfortable conversations, and…and everything else that made their relationship good. One fight—albeit a big one—and her solution was to propose?

What did she think he was going to do over the next two months? Forget about her? Move on? Ansem forbid, find someone else? There was no one else. There had never really been anyone else. Even Rinoa…It wasn't even fair to compare anymore.

"I'm sure she'll be here."

Speak of the devil.

Leon blinked and looked away from the goodbye crowd to see Rinoa standing off to the side, holding a flashlight for one of Cid's interns, who was bent over one of the wings of the ships. The plates had been lifted so the man could reach the inner mechanism of the wing.

He grunted, not wanting to get into this now.

"It's just…45 minutes until takeoff." Rinoa continued. "She's probably on her way now."

"Yeah." He said curtly, "Have you been to the office today?"

"It was still a madhouse when I left." She replied. "Did you two have a fight? I mean, are you both okay?"

"Light." Cid's intern reprimanded flatly, and Rinoa adjusted the angle of the flash light.

Leon exhaled, "Everything is fine."

He walked away before she could press further. He would rather talk to Cloud Strife about the joys of friendship before talking to Rinoa about his relationship with Tifa. Luckily, Cloud was all the way across the hangar…doing something with a rack of sheetmetal…so Leon angled instead for the control room.

One of the other squad leaders, Lieutenant Armand Walker, was puffing on a cigar and staring intently at the inter-galactic Allied map mounted on the wall. Preliminary trajectories traced between Radiant Garden and Jamestown had been outlined in bright red. A lot of Allies that Leon had read about or heard briefly mentioned were getting put to faces thanks to this campaign. Walker was one of them. He was a thick-bodied man with a massive mustache and very little neck.

"Lieutenant." Leon greeted nonchalantly, crossing over to the panel to check the ground controls of the hangar.

"Ah, Commander Leonhart." Walker's voice sounded like that of a villain in old spy movies, complete with light accent and spontaneous sideways smirk.

Luckily, the man didn't have the same penchant for conversation, and he didn't pursue any further than a greeting. Leon exhaled in relief as Walker continued to scrutinize the map, not paying him any more heed. Leon checked the departure order and left the control room, moving back out onto the hangar floor.

It was days like this in particular that he regretted not putting a restriction on McCallister's requested leave. He realized that she needed to sort through things after Stasis, but it had been three months and she was still doing busywork at one of the Land of Dragons consulates. He had trained her for bigger fish than that…like this situation.

Besides, her dry assessment of the Rinoa Situation would have been helpful.

"Hey, Leon." Cid hailed him, marching over like a bear with its prey in its crosshairs.

Leon faced him, wondering what little aero-error that Cid had inflated into a catastrophe this time.

"Who's the little cocksucker who aligned the steering on the red ship?" Cid fumed.

Leon paused. "I didn't see—"

"You're the pilot on the red ship, right?"

"No, I'm not piloting. All of yours are doing the flying…It only made sense." Leon folded his arms, glancing over to the red ship. "Is the steering messed up?"

"It's completely FUBAR. I'm ducking it to fourth takeoff slot so we can try to un-fuck it." Cid growled. "Which'a mine have been loitering around the engine?"

Leon sighed, "I saw Private Barr working on the reverse thrusters earlier. If anybody worked on the steering alignment, it was probably him."

Cid huffed and bellowed across the hangar floor. "BARR!"

The recruit with a mop of wild dyed-green hair shot up. "Sir?"

"You're fired!" Cid barked.

Barr paled, and Leon nudged Cid.

"He's been assigned to the Campaign. He's qualified to run the mission. He's filled out all the paperwork and he actually volunteered for this." He muttered.

"Shit." Cid put his hands on his hips. "Barr!"

Barr looked over. "Sir?"

"You're un-fired, but if you don't fix that mess'a shit you call steering alignment, then you're fired again in two months!" Cid barked.

The private scrambled to his feet and darted to the underbelly of the Gummi to adjust the steering. Cid cursed and shook his head.

"I swear, if you hadn't sent Cooper and Potter over here to keep shit straight on the floor, I woulda taken a bazooka to the whole thing and said to Hell with it." He grumbled.

"I know the feeling." Leon empathized, glancing across the floor.

Half an hour until takeoff now. Even with Cid docking the red Gummi to fourth slot, Leon was starting to get a little uncomfortable. If Tifa was going to show up, she was running out of time. There wasn't a 'fashionably late' for things like this; there was just late.

"I ain't seen her." Cid remarked, lighting a cigarette.

"I know, but—" Leon caught himself. "Er—who?"

"Ah, Hell, Leon, you ain't foolin' nobody." Cid said, putting away his lighter and taking a drag from the cigarette. "Well, a'right, you're foolin' a lot of people, but not anybody who knows anything."

"Thanks, Cid." Leon frowned, "You always know what to say."

"I'm sayin', stop your bitchin' and grow a pair." Cid snorted. "What could either of you have done to turn yourselves from Bonnie and Clyde to…Yuffie and vegetables?"

Leon rolled his eyes. "I don't want to get into it."

"Tough nuts." Cid said. "Last thing this campaign needs is a commander who's got half his brain on the trigger and the other half on the woman back home."

"My brain is right where it needs to be." Leon said. "And I'd appreciate it if everybody stopped trying to pry into what isn't their business."

Cid regarded him flatly for a moment. "So she lied about something."

"How did—"

"Your feathers are too miffed for it to be all your fault, and she either lied or cheated." Cid said sagely. "And the day cheating becomes an issue between you two is the day I quit smoking."

Leon lifted a hand to stop him. "You're not about to start giving me advice, are you?"

"Hell no. You're a big boy. Figure it out yourself." Cid snorted, "And load up, shit is movin' out in twenty minutes."

With that, he marched off to yell at someone else, leaving Leon ruffled. He had already loaded his lone duffle and equipment bag onto the red Gummi, so he just walked over to the cargo hold of the ship to make sure the others were geared up.

Had he and Tifa ended things on such bad terms that she was just avoiding him completely at this point? Were things between them so awkward after three days ago that…No, she was probably just running late or absorbed in paperwork. They were all running on zero sleep over at headquarters. He wouldn't blame her for that.

Didn't mean he wasn't disappointed when he didn't see her.

"Squall." Rinoa walked over.

"It's about time to head out." He said to curtail her inevitable questions.

"I know." She ran a hand through her hair. "I tried to call Tifa's phone, but she must have it turned on silent or something."

"It's okay." He lifted a hand, stepping onto the first rung to climb into the red ship.

Rinoa looked like she wanted to say something, like something was weighing on her mind, but she shook her head and tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Be careful out there." She said instead. "We better see your face again in two months."

Leon looked at her. "I will."

"You better." She fidgeted once, looking torn between a goodbye hug and—she abruptly held out a hand. "Er, goodbye…Leon."

He hesitated, looking from her, to her proffered hand, back to her face before reaching down and grasping her hand, shaking it awkwardly in goodbye. She kept her eyes on their entwined hands, and when she withdrew, she blinked a few times before looking at him again.

"Well…good luck."

"Thanks." He replied, wrongfooted by how emotional she was becoming.

She bobbed her head and playfully punched his arm. "Break a leg, soldier."

Then she traipsed away to the control room where Cid, Yuffie, and Aerith were. Perplexed, Leon shook his head and climbed into the red ship as the first Gummis taxied out of the hangar. A few minutes after the last soldier climbed in, the ship's doors were closed and locked air tight for space travel.

The rest of Leon's platoon had strapped in for the flight.

Taking a seat near the head of the ship, Leon picked up the leaders' briefing report of the first phase of the mission. He knew the thing by heart; he just needed something to mess with. He had gone over 25 years in this life by taking care of himself. He depended on no one unless he absolutely had to. He trusted the Restoration Committee and he trusted the Alliance, but he was used to handling things on his own.

This would be no different. He and Tifa had never been the kind to require big, emotional goodbyes nor dramatic, slow-motion reunions. They were each coming or going from missions too frequently to have the energy for that mess. But they had never been apart for two months before, nor had they ever been apart for so long after such a messy situation. Cid was right; he needed to just suck it up and get over it.

The ship vibrated slightly underfoot and chugged forward, readying to follow its sisters up into the sky toward MX9. Leon sat back, glancing out the side window and mentally preparing for what might be awaiting them when they reached Jamestown.

The flames from the ship taking off before them jettisoned past and he blinked a few times at the brightness until it moved away and he saw Tifa standing on the hangar floor.

Sitting up with a jerk, he squinted when he realized he hadn't imagined it. Was she insane? There were live thrusters shooting fire in her direction! She was standing just out of the danger zone, but only just. She was breathing hard, he could even see that from where he was, and the heat waves from the ships were making her hair flap wildly around her head.

The red ship continued to taxi away, and just as quickly as he spotted her, she began to shrink as the Gummi prepped for takeoff. Tifa looked like she had half a mind to bolt after the ship and wave them down, but instead she just remained rooted where she was. Her expression was utterly pained and sorry. She hadn't looked that open in two weeks.

"Sir—" Private Ambrose from Yuffie's department started.

Leon lifted a hand to silence him. He wasn't going to see Tifa for the next two months. He wanted to burn her into his memory and keep his eyes on her as long as she was in sight. That half-panicked, half-wild look on her face would help him mentally get through his whole damned campaign. She continued to just stand there, her face screaming what her voice couldn't. And for the first time in two weeks, he could read it clearly.

All too soon the ship lifted off the strip and climbed out of the Radiant Garden atmosphere, up into the deep, endless black of space. Leon closed his eyes briefly. This was going to be a long two months. And from the look of the platoon around him, he wasn't alone in that thought.

But in two months, hopefully he'd be on his way back with every single one of these soldiers. This campaign was just a stepping stone. And for now, he'd have to focus on that.

Next stop, Jamestown.

**..:-X-:..**

**A/N:** And thus concludes the first arc of this story. The fall semester is going to be starting soon, so I'll be strapped for time, but I'll try to keep this story updated as frequently as I can. Thanks for reading!

Constructive feedback is always welcome and appreciated!


	11. Regroup

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are the Alliance and any assorted OCs that sneak in here. This is the first chapter of the second arc of this story. Constructive feedback welcome and appreciated!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Eleven: Regroup**

When the first Allied Gummi carrier broke through the invisible wall surrounding MX9, it let out an air-splitting crack that sent all of the soldiers to attention, turning to look through the plated windows to witness it themselves. Multiple flashes of light barraged out from the impact site, flowering out into the void of space.

Leon remained where he was, sitting with his jaw tilted forward against his fist, watching through the window, feeling conflicted. That was it then. The wall had been broken. For good or bad, there was no going back now. He watched the first ship sink into the atmospheric hole that the impact had created. There was a brilliant flash as tendrils of breaks crackled through the rest of the wall. They would have to move quickly if they were going to reseal the wall once they were all in.

His eyes drifted to the platoon in the hold with him, gluing themselves to the windows and nearly bouncing with anticipation, though they were trying to look professional. They had gone over the plans tirelessly on the long flight from Radiant Garden. They had remained in orbit around MX9 for all of an hour before deciding to proceed.

As the second and the third carriers followed the first, Leon sat up straighter and rolled his shoulders. He had spoken to the three commanders of the other platoons and they had agreed that contact with the natives was not the first priority. First they would land and establish a secure base location, then recon the area and survey the real Heartless situation. Only after deciding the stability of the world would they approach the two parties inhabiting MX9.

The ship that Leon was on and then the final cargo ship pushed through the gap in the wall, and at first, no one could see anything. Only blackness and flashes of lightning. It was storming on the world. That would work to their advantage, Leon noted. The light and the noise of their entrance would hopefully be dismissed as lightning and thunder and dulled by rain.

"Sit down." Leon spoke up as the rain began to lash against the sides of the ships.

The soldiers looked at him in surprise for a brief second, but then obediently took their seats and strapped in for landing. Leon moved into the cockpit, grabbing onto an overhead bar. The pilot, one of Cid's interns, was too busy navigating through the storm to pay him any attention, but Private Marcus, one of Leon's interns, turned around promptly.

"The flagship is resealing the hole now, sir." He reported. "The other ships are circling a clearing two miles east from here. No signs of any detection by the natives. It's like there's no one here, sir."

Leon squinted through the windshield, barely able to make out trees and mountains through the flashes of darkness and lightning. "Their wall was completely intact, which means they've made no attempt to leave this world. If they aren't developed enough to attempt flight, then we can't assume they have the technology to detect us so quickly."

"Coming in too steep." Cid's intern growled, jerking on the control panel to even out the ship's trajectory.

"They're advanced enough to be attacking each other." Marcus replied. "That's advanced enough to concern me."

Leon frowned, "You just concern yourself with fighting Heartless."

"Yes, sir." Marcus said, facing forward again.

Ten minutes of turbulence and narrowly avoiding lightning later, all five ships cruised in low over the tree tops and lowered their steel bellies to the grayish brown soil of MX9. The soldiers were shifting restlessly, but Leon gave them no order as he walked past them from the cockpit to the exit by the back of the ship.

The ship chugged and hissed as it settled onto the surface and the engines idled. He disengaged the airlock and safety mechanism, unlatching the door and pushing it outward. The steel crisply swung away, letting in the first breaths of MX9. The air smelled earthy and moist as it permeated the ship. Leon ignored the rain that immediately buffeted his face and shoulders, jumping down out of the hold. His boots smacked into the thick mud, mimicked as others stepped out of the other carriers.

Lieutenant Walker was already dispatching two groups of his platoon to scout the perimeter. Majors Valerie Banks and John Simon were more like Leon, testing out the surface and checking their immediate surroundings. He met both of their gazes and gave a short nod, looking back toward his ship.

"Unload." He ordered over the sound of the rain.

Banks and Simon gave similar orders to their soldiers and Leon walked toward the edge of their landing site, looking out at the shadowy forest beyond. It was easy to see why the Heartless were congregating here. Even without the conflict between the two parties here, it was dark and wet and cold: practically a breeding ground for the creatures.

"You think it's like this all the time?" Major Simon said, arms folded where he stood a few paces away.

Leon pursed his lips. "Time will tell."

The rain persisted as they set up base camp, and they were all equally soaked and muddy by the time dawn began to break. They apparently had landed in the middle of the night, and the storm was abating above them. Once the perimeter was secure and the base was set up, Simon and Banks both sent squads out into the wilderness to recon the area, and possibly see if any native residents were nearby, so they'd know places to avoid for now.

As much as Leon wanted to go out there on his own and see what MX9 held beyond its trees, he had to stay behind with the other three leaders to settle on how to move forward with the operation. The rain had stopped by that point, and they elected to meet outside instead of huddling in a tent.

Valerie Banks was one of Cid's top subordinates, and she frequently flew as his wingman during routine missions. She normally had short, cropped red hair and a composed appearance, but at the moment she looked like a half-drowned rat covered in mud. John Simon was an apprentice intern under Merlin's sorcery department, and he had the wizard's same penchant for being unorganized and eccentric, with flyaway blond hair and bright green eyes.

"Scouts made no contact or sighting of anyone." Walker informed, lighting tobacco in a pipe and puffing on it. "They said there're no buildings or signs that there used to be buildings. Not even a bloody footprint."

"Any Heartless sightings?" Leon prompted.

"None of those either." Walker shook his head.

"How is that possible?" Major Banks interjected, folding her arms. "We were sent here because of the fuckin' things, and now that we're here, they're not gonna show?"

"They are Heartless." Simon pointed out. "Creatures of darkness. You expect them to make sense?"

"When I leave my husband for two months, I do." Banks bit back. "I expect them to roll out the fuckin' red carpet and line up for me to shoot 'em."

The corner of Leon's mouth quirked: definitely one of Cid's.

"Unfortunately, that's not how the Heartless work." Major Simon pointed out.

"Oh…go file a report or something." Baker waved a hand at him flippantly. "Radiant Garden still needs our initial logistics about this place."

"Why me?" Simon narrowed his eyes.

"Because Lieutenant Walker is debriefing us, Commander Leonhart is more important than you, and you are annoying me." She hissed. "Now scurry, bitch."

Simon huffed and stood, "Of all the disrespectful…" He bemoaned, walking toward the communication tent to relay the report.

Walker puffed at his pipe, watching the exchange.

Leon snorted and looked up at the sky. It was just a clear sunrise, orange and pink and a fading blue. No sign that just hours earlier five ships had torn through it.

"Moving on." He looked to Walker and Banks again. "The Heartless will show themselves eventually. There are over 200 soldiers with ironclad hearts based here now. They won't be able to resist." He remarked. "And we have no idea what species of Heartless this is. The terrain would suggest the darkness would take the form of a plant-based or water-based Heartless, but we can't be sure."

"So we're playing bait." Banks said, folding one leg over the other.

"We're playing patience." Walker corrected, pointing his pipe at her. "Unlike Heartless, we have things called brains that can formulate effective plans." He lifted the thick band of paper holding their campaign plans.

The lieutenant was the oddball in this group. While the others had been chosen for their combat prowess, Walker was a tactician. He was a master strategist…self declared. He was also the most physically ambiguous: he was the least likely of their group to rub the natives the wrong way on the first impression. Between Leon's general people skills, Bank's filthy mouth, and Simon's overall eccentricity, Leon had to admit that Walker was their best bet.

Then again, he hadn't come here to make small talk with the natives. Their job was to wipe out the Heartless first and foremost. Eventually that would put them directly in the path of the civil war about to break out, since that was the root of the darkness that was attracting the Heartless in the first place.

But they would worry about that later.

"We'll separate the platoons into squadrons of five." Leon started, drawing them back to the topic at hand. "Send three squads from each platoon to survey the area."

"We have scouts out now." Banks gestured.

"They're getting the lay of the land." Walker said. "Organized squads will be prepared for any surprise attack, so they'll be better equipped to go deeper, fan out farther."

"Exactly." Leon stood. "Once we know the exact kind of world we're dealing with, we'll organize an operation against the Heartless."

The other two nodded and Walker went to relay this idea to Simon. Banks gave a lazy salute and meandered back to her soldiers. Leon made his way back to his own platoon, swatting at a few mosquitoes that had sprung to life out of the balmy atmosphere.

If it wasn't for the mud three inches deep, the anachronistic appearance of the armed ships amidst the trees, and the general darkness that seemed to lurk in the forest around them, the smell of the pine and the air after the rain would have been pleasant.

"Harper, Elk, Bates." Leon called out as he reached the carrier.

The three soldiers sprang out of the wings of their comrades, a triple echo of 'sir!'

"Each of you assemble four other recruits for a recon sweep of the area." He ordered. "Arm yourselves and take a day's rations. Be prepared for whatever might jump out at you."

The three soldiers nodded curtly and set about putting their squads together.

Leon divided the remainders of his platoon for a series of menial but crucial tasks, and soon his three squads, along with Walker, Simon, and Banks' squads, departed from the base. By the time the base began to settle into a routine, it was nearly midday, and the base—still on Radiant Garden time—were all getting a little tired and slaphappy.

Major Simon's report that had been sent to Radiant Garden was still on screen in the temporary communication barracks. Leon moved in front of the computer and scrolled through the file. All of the facts and information had been logged…but in a much more flowery and wordy way than Leon would have preferred.

This was where his taste in soldiers differed from Merlin's. Leon, Cid, and Tifa all had generally the same preferences for recruits in their departments: efficient, effective, and no-nonsense. There were minor differences, of course. Tifa's interns tended to be more creative in their missions, more open to discussion on a mission, and—while martial arts combatants—were always ready to run first aid stations and tend to casualties. Cid's interns were more on the mouthy side, completely and utterly anal about Gummi maintenance, and for all their laidback behavior, were oddly efficient about paperwork. Leon's department was the smallest, being as it was the hardest for recruits to get into. He had no desire to have a massive program of weapons specialists and uppity snipers on his hands. Anyone marked as his recruits had to be two steps ahead of the game, the top of their marksmanship classes, and able to take orders without any 'er's, 'but's, or needing the order repeated.

That was probably why people generally tended to put all of his soldiers into the box of 'those kids who never smile and have something up their asses'. But they had been trained to handle any situation, and handle it well. Even if Private McCallister—his first recruit—was on sabbatical at the moment, she could still shoot out the eye of a Heartless with a sniper rifle half a mile away…you pick which eye.

Closing the report, he didn't immediately leave the room. For a long moment, he just sat there, staring at the blank screen. He was getting restless, and restlessness led to recklessness. So he took a moment to pause and just listen to the sounds of the camp outside.

Boots squishing through the grass and the mud. Doors opening and closing. Crates being picked up and set down. Weapons being put together. Soldiers exchanging shorthand amongst themselves. He didn't actively listen to any of their conversations, but they seemed to range from 'where does this go?' to 'that Heartless won't know what hit it' to 'this is going to be a long two months' to 'and that's my son in the background, he just turned three, you know'.

Getting fidgety, Leon stood and left the communications barracks, moving across the camp to the commanders' quarters. They had each erected their own tent—more on Simon's request than Banks'—and Leon found some relief in not having to worry about running into any of them as he entered his tent.

He had placed the Gunblade's case on his cot, closed and locked out of habit. He hadn't had much use for the big case recently, since most of his missions had been on Radiant Garden or had been a 24 hour run on another world. It had actually taken a little digging to find the thing while he was packing for the campaign.

Needing something to take his mind off the massive amount of things they had to accomplish over the next two months, he sat down on the other end of the cot and unlatched the edges of the case. Lifting the lid, the dim lighting of the lantern overhead caught on the polished silver blade inside. Unlike some of his comrades' weapons, the Gunblade did not dismantle. It was one solid length from tip to handle.

The gun mechanism could be detached, but this was more for maintenance and cleaning than for storage. This wasn't a weapon that was built for storage. In fact, Leon mused that he hadn't put the weapon in the case like this since moving from Traverse Town to 'Hollow Bastion' nearly five years ago.

He lifted the Gunblade out of the case, his hand wrapping around the familiar grip of the handle. The weight was balanced and hung mostly around the trigger and chambers. Contrary to what most of the Alliance thought, the Gunblade wasn't as heavy as it looked. It was weighty, but solid steel tended to be. Not like Cloud's damned Tsurugi weapon. All of those multiple swords combined into one…It had to weigh nearly twice as much as the Gunblade, and swinging the thing could easily dislocate a shoulder.

Snorting at that, Leon checked all of the chambers and the trigger and the nooks and crannies, but he had cleaned the Gunblade enough to qualify it to be in a surgical operating room. Most of that was because it needed to be in top form for the mission, but part of that could be attributed to the fact that he and Tifa hadn't been speaking at the time, and he had needed something to focus on.

The Gunblade had paid the price for that.

Leon traced the sharp outline of the weapon slowly. At the end of this campaign, the weapon would have seen the end of every Heartless on MX9. He promised himself that.

**..:-X-:..**

That night, Tifa took the late patrol shift. One, she needed to stay out of the office for a while, for her sanity's sake. Two, she had too much nervous energy to go back to the apartment and get some overdue sleep. Three, she had always been more of an outdoor girl than an indoor one, so she needed some fresh air and room to stretch.

Radiant Garden at two am was at such a state of quiet that it calmed her nerves and silenced all of those thoughts that kept bouncing around in her skull. It was a relief to hit the 'off' switch and fall back on what she knew well: protecting this town from the Heartless. Even the Heartless seemed to be enjoying the tranquility: this week had been a record low for Heartless skirmishes in town. That was lucky, because the Alliance had been so wrapped up in paperwork and mobilization that they had been useless on the home front almost.

Tifa made her way across the industrial sector, wary of any twitching shadows lurking around the warehouses and factories. The business and military districts were low lit and quiet, with only the graveyard shifts and work-aholics making an appearance every so often. The residential and civilian zones were low lit and almost all of the windows were dark. The town was sleeping, and Tifa's body was beginning to remind her that she was going on nearly three days with roughly eight hours of power naps total.

She had just crossed into the main town area when someone moved out of the nearby bar. Two am was closing time, though it was practically empty at that point anyway. So this straggler was one of the last. Tifa just continued walking, but the man waved a hand.

"Tifa, hey, what's shakin', bacon?" He greeted, sauntering up to her.

She glanced sideways at him and stifled a groan. "Jake." She replied in greeting.

Jake Alms was the harmless, self-declared ladies' man who took to roaming around Radiant Garden and generally annoying women and men alike. He was an odd bird: skinny and tenacious and a sore thumb around the trained and disciplined soldiers of the Alliance. Tifa had never actually seen him at any kind of job, but she'd heard he worked at the local animal shelter.

"Stuck on late shift, eh?" He shoved his hands in his pockets, his dark hair tousled over his forehead.

"Volunteered." She responded, continuing on her route.

He continued to walk with her. "Ah, don't wanna go home to an empty apartment."

She rolled her eyes at him. "More like I need some fresh air."

"You say potato…" He shrugged, skipping every other step.

The rest of the district was clear, and by the time she reached the Ravine Trail, she realized that Jake was still walking with her.

"Is there a reason why you're following me?" She asked.

"Fresh air." He quipped, winking at her.

She exhaled and continued on.

"So…" He started.

Ha, she knew he wanted something.

"This Rinoa Heartilly…Is she seeing anyone?" He prompted.

Tifa groaned. "Go home, Jake."

"It's a simple question."

"That question is a lot of things. Simple isn't one of them."

"Oh, don't be a grump." He snorted. "Just because she and Leon used to swap spit a billion years ago doesn't mean she's anywhere near your league."

It was crass and inappropriate, but deep down Tifa appreciated it.

Not that she'd ever tell him that. Giving Jake positive feedback was like feeding a stray animal. Do it once, and you're stuck with him. So she kept her face neutral.

"I mean, I've seen her around, she's cute and all, but you're just…damn." He whistled.

Tifa exhaled, "Go HOME, Jake. I'm not in the mood for—"

"For being showered with compliments? You're always playing hard to get with me." He teased lightly. "So is Rinoa seeing anybody?"

"No, but she—" Tifa paused.

As much as she and Rinoa had butted heads in the past, Tifa didn't want to be spreading around that the woman still had feelings for Leon. It wasn't her place to say it and it would be embarrassing for Rinoa.

"I doubt she'd go for you." She recovered. "You're not really her type."

"I'm every woman's type." He replied, canting his head slightly.

"Consider the last man she went for." Tifa looked to Jake. "And the only thing that you and Leon have in common is a Y-chromosome…and barely that."

Jake let out a sarcastic laugh. "Ha-HA, your humor is scathing. And the condescension is always appreciated. Thanks."

She smirked as they walked through the Ravine Trail. Leon and the rest of the squads would have landed in Jamestown by now, set up camp and maybe even made contact with the natives. The walls around the world would be back up, effectively quarantining them. Now the only way to communicate with them would be through high powered radio or computer systems.

"Maybe I'll call her." Jake mused aloud. "I mean, she's got to be all messed up and heartbroken that her man has moved on to another woman."

Tifa made a disgusted noise.

"Enter Jake." He made a wild arm gesture. "I can help her mend her broken heart."

"You are a piece of work, Alms." Tifa shook her head. "I thought you always had your eye on McCallister?"

"Tabs? Yeah, but she's rejected me so often, I'm starting to think that she doesn't have feelings for me." He said.

Tifa cast him a mock-shocked look. "No!"

"Yeah!" He replied, pointing at her. "I mean, at first I thought she was just being all…McCallister-ish, but then after that whole Stasis crap, she just up and left and wouldn't return my calls."

Tifa paused and looked at Jake. "Thanks."

He blinked, "What?"

"For saying what no one else will. Stasis was crap. Thanks for that." She walked into the Dark Depths. "And I'm sure she didn't leave and ignore your calls because of you."

"I recited poetry in one of the voicemails."

"No you didn't."

"Oh ho, yes I did. Women love poetry."

Tifa gave him a flat look. "We do?"

He paused, "Sure they do."

"I can say that I've never had a man recite poetry at me or my voicemail."

"You're surprised?" He snorted. "Your track record consists of Cloud Strife and Leon. The day that either of those two muscle heads romances a woman properly is the day that you agree to a date with me."

Tifa huffed, "I'll let you know that Leon can be romantic."

"I heard that he murdered your couch with his bare hands." Was the dry reply.

Tifa deadpanned and headed back through Crystal Fissure. "Go home, Alms."

He continued to totter alongside her, chattering on about meaningless things that Tifa only half paid attention to as she finished her rounds. After wrapping up patrol, they walked along the wall of the new residential district and Tifa found her mind beginning to wander again.

"Jake, can I ask you something?"

"The answer is yes." He winked.

She exhaled in exasperation. "Seriously."

"All right, serious face." He composed himself.

"You're tricky with words and loopholes and generally manipulating people, right?"

"Ouch, go straight for the jugular, woman."

She rubbed her neck. "Hypothetically, Person A agrees to be told a secret that very significantly affects Person B by Person C, the manipulator. Person C basically tells Person A that A can never tell B what C told A otherwise…or else." She looked to Jake, "Follow?"

Both of Jake's eyebrows were up. "Following."

"But the secret is very important and ends up coming out anyway. So now A feels guilty for not telling B all the details, so A gets outside Person D to tell B in A's stead. Does that count as a loophole?"

Jake traced the air with a finger, following an imaginary flow chart in front of him. "…Yes." He answered slowly. "That is a loophole. But if B already knows the secret, why does A need to have D tell B again?"

"To ease the guilt."

Jake folded his arms. "That makes A seem pretty selfish."

Tifa sighed and scratched her head. "I know—"

"I mean, it sounds like A is easing their own burden, not taking into account how it's affecting B…If it's one of those big deal secrets."

"I know—"

"Unless there were details about the secret that B didn't know, and A couldn't tell B, so A had D do the telling." Jake indicated.

"I know—"

"Which one are you?"

"It's hypothetical."

Jake narrowed one eye at her, his gaze drifted off in thought for a moment, and then he gasped dramatically, pointing at her. "Are you pregnant!"

Tifa balked. "What? No!" She smacked his hand aside. "And don't you dare be spreading the rumor that I am, because I'm not."

Jake didn't appear to be listening. "Is it Leon's?"

Tifa knocked the side of his head hard enough to make him stagger sideways. "I am NOT pregnant, but if I was…OF COURSE it would be his."

"Geez, woman!" Jake rubbed the spot on his head. "So you're not pregnant."

"NO!"

"Then why are you being all…crazy?" He absently gestured. "Unless it's just your time of the—"

"You say 'month' and I'll make sure there are never any Jake Alms Juniors." She threatened.

Jake paused and cleared his throat, recovering. "Fine, fine, if it's not the first reason and not the second reason, then you're just insane."

"Well, I have a right. Leon is gone for the next two months and I'm pretty sure Rinoa wants to be friends with me." She shook her head. "Why am I even talking to you about this?"

"It's part of my appeal. Consider me the ever-faithful ear to listen to your woes…the dependable shoulder for crying on…the—"

"Jake?" Tifa interrupted.

He stopped his monologue, looking at her. "Yes, my sweet?"

"GO HOME!" She put her boot in his ribs, pushing him away, but not hard enough to actually do any damage.

"All right, all right. I can take a hint." He lifted his hands, stepping away from her. "But, hey, just so you know…If you get lonely in the next two months—"

Tifa glared.

He pointed down the sidewalk. "I'm going home."

As he meandered his way in the other direction, Tifa sighed, shook her head, and walked toward the apartment complex. That eccentric man-whore was right about one thing: she wasn't looking forward to going home to an empty apartment.

Honestly, she was a grown woman. She had lived on her own for years before she and Leon started sharing rent. It wasn't the being alone part that she minded. It was the lack of Leon that was bothering her. Crap, the 'off' switch had been flipped back to 'on' again.

Luckily, the physical fatigue was becoming present enough to quickly drown out the thoughts as she reached the apartment, unlocking the door and stepping inside. The empty space where the couch had been still looked alien. Duke had splayed herself across the floor in the vacated spot instead. Her tail flapped twice when Tifa entered, but she didn't get up.

Tifa snorted, "I bet you would have jumped up if I was Leon, eh?"

The dog's tailed flapped again at her voice, but still didn't even lift her head.

The chess set was sitting on the coffee table still. It was her turn now, but she made no motion to make her move. She had two months to mull over her next move. She was in no hurry.

Without turning on the lights, Tifa crossed to her bedroom, nearly tripping over a few half-packed boxes. She paused, squinting at them. She and Leon had owned that new house in the residential district for a while now, and their moving plans had been snail-slow in the wake of the war and the Alliance and everything. Moving had virtually come to a standstill since Rinoa had returned.

Maybe it was time to actually move in and start living there.

It was a thought. A thought brought on by over-thinking and under-sleeping, but still a thought to consider later. She made a mental note to debate herself about it later.

It was nearly five in the morning by the time Tifa had taken a hot shower, changed into fresh, comfortable clothes, and snacked on a peanut butter sandwich before climbing into bed. The Alliance was probably crawling already with the new information that the squads were sending in, not to mention day-to-day missions and activities that needed to be accounted for, but Tifa couldn't bring herself to go back to the office so soon.

Her cell phone was fully charged and on the bedside table. If they needed her, they would call her. Until then, she was going to get eight good hours of sleep.

Clearly no one told her subconscious that, because she dreamed solidly of the house and moving and…the study room…

By the time she actually fell asleep, the sun was beginning to rise, and Duke abruptly started barking at a bird that perched outside the window. Tifa groaned and put her pillow over her head. This was going to be a long two months.

**..:-X-:..**

**A/N:** I think this serves as a filler chapter. It may have been a little slow paced, but things will pick up again soon. Plus I wanted to throw Jake in there. He was an occasional OC who popped up in my Lefa ditty collections, and since McCallister is AWOL so far in this story, I threw him in for giggles.


	12. Revolution

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as is Duke and the assorted OCs that got smattered about in here. **

**School is eating up my life and part of my soul right now, and it probably will continue to until the end of September. I'll try to get back to writing this soon, but it could be a dry season coming up.**

**Constructive criticism welcome and appreciated!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Twelve: Revolution**

"I'm thinking chocolate." Yuffie prompted, shuffling backwards and carrying one end of the wooden chest while Aerith carried the other end. "For the parade. Like, an entire float made totally of chocolate."

"Shuffle faster, I'm losing my grip." Aerith wheezed.

Tifa set down her own two big boxes in the kitchen. "Just anywhere in the living room, guys. I can take it upstairs later."

"Thank the maker." Aerith grunted as she and Yuffie lowered the chest to the floor. "What is IN this, bricks?"

Yuffie snapped her fingers to regain the other two's attention. "Think about it! Chocolate statues, chocolate furniture, chocolate decorations, and a big chocolate fountain in the middle. And after the parade…we all eat it!"

Tifa snickered as Aerith exhaled, looking to the younger woman.

"Yuffie, it's the middle of summer. Heat index that day will be in the upper nineties." Aerith tried to reason delicately.

"Then stick Cloud on the float and call it a girl's dream come true." Yuffie snickered. When Aerith balked, Yuffie lifted her shoulders. "What? You can NOT tell me that if Cloud just happened to end up covered in melted chocolate, that you would complain." She pointed at Tifa. "Would you complain?"

"You want MY opinion?" Tifa lifted an eyebrow, opening one of the boxes.

It had been nearly two weeks since the Campaign launched out of Radiant Garden to Jamestown. Fortunately, the insomnia and moodiness had passed quickly, and after she caught up on sleep, Tifa's mind kicked back into gear. She wanted—needed—to keep herself busy or she would drive herself—and everyone around her—crazy. So for the past week and a half, any time she wasn't on missions or working in the department, she was organizing and packing and moving things from the apartment to the new house in the residential district.

"I think we should have a float made entirely of flowers." Aerith said, tactfully changing the subject from a chocolate-y Cloud.

"You would." Yuffie teased, walking over to the kitchen where Tifa was.

The parade. That was the other project that Tifa was glad to have occupying her free time. Aerith's big super party that would not only celebrate Radiant Garden's five year anniversary of its liberation from the Heartless, but serve as a morale-booster to Radiant Garden's Allied base. The war effort had taken a sharp hit with the recent increase in intergalactic Heartless attacks. A parade, dancing, and chocolate-covered people was just what the world needed right now.

And there was plenty to do. When Aerith planned a party, she not only bit off more than she could chew, she bit off enough to keep a baseball team chewing for a week. Floats and food and music and funding and schedules and decorations and lights: the list went on and on. She had set a date for three weeks from tomorrow, and only half of the organizational work was done.

Tifa had been put in charge of food and drinks for the big party. Yuffie had volunteered to head a committee for the dance party and music. Aerith had 'borrowed' some of Leon's interns to organize schedules and ordering deadlines, as well as mapping a parade route. They were collaboratively working on the different float ideas, but Tifa had overheard Cloud brainstorming with Cid at the Gummi garage about people around town who might be good at designing floats.

Yuffie skipped outside to bring in more boxes. Tifa had boxed up most of her own possessions and kitchenware. She wasn't sure how long or how far she would go with this moving business without Leon, but she had promised herself not to mess with his stuff until she had absolutely moved all of her own things. Duke met Yuffie at the door, hopping and bouncing around the ninja, demanding attention.

"We're having another meeting in the next few days to tie up some loose ends." Aerith remarked, looking to Tifa. "Will you be able to make it?"

The way she asked it made Tifa pause. Sympathy? Did Aerith think that Tifa was about to implode if she was in public too long?

"Yes." Tifa quirked an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Aerith blinked, "Oh. I was just—I mean I didn't know if you two were getting along."

Tifa's other eyebrow went up. "I've been around Yuffie for a few years now. If we aren't getting along by now, I doubt we're ever going to get along."

Aerith blinked again in confusion, shook her head, and straightened. "No, it's not—Rinoa signed on to help with the parade. She'll be at the meeting."

Tifa fumbled slightly with the silverware she was placing in one of the kitchen drawers. She recovered herself and looked to Aerith. "Oh?"

She tried to sound neutral, but her voice shot up an octave at the end.

Aerith grimaced. "I'm sorry. I assumed that Yuffie would make sure you were okay before—"

"Yuffie ASKED her to help?" Tifa faced Aerith fully at that.

"No," Aerith lifted her hands. "Rinoa asked Yuffie if we needed help planning the parade. Yuffie told her it was okay. I thought Yuffie talked to you first."

Yuffie walked back into the house then, carrying another box, whistling.

Tifa sighed and rubbed her forehead. It was a complication. At this point, Rinoa was less of a complication than of a general nuisance. She was EVERYWHERE. Tifa had heard that Rinoa had been very involved in town and school before the Heartless. Clearly she was getting back on the horse with that one.

"Well, she didn't." Tifa inhaled, reaching down and lifting plates out of the box.

"Are you going to be okay with this?" Aerith asked gently.

"Okay with what?" Yuffie chirped, setting the box down beside the chest.

Both Tifa and Aerith looked over at her.

Aerith put her hands on her hips. "You didn't ask Tifa before telling Rinoa it was okay for her to help with the parade?"

Yuffie blinked. "I didn't think it was a big deal—"

"It's not a big deal." Tifa said, placing the plates in the cabinet. "It's fine."

Aerith looked unconvinced. "Is it?"

Tifa smiled, only half-forced. "I'm a big girl, Aerith. Rinoa and I are…neutral. I don't hate her or anything."

"Why would you hate Rinoa?" Yuffie's eyes widened slightly.

Again, both women just looked at her incredulously.

Yuffie rolled her eyes at their expressions. "Oh come ON. You are NOT still wallowing on about how she and Leon dated a billion years ago?"

Tifa lifted her shoulders. "No, that's why I said it was okay."

"But your face is all…weird." Yuffie gestured.

"I am not weird." Tifa retorted.

"You find Rinoa threatening; that's weird." Yuffie reproached.

Tifa laughed at that. "Oh please. Threatening? If she tried—I'd break her in half."

"There's Tifa!" Yuffie pointed at her and winked, "Keep that pimp hand strong."

As Yuffie traipsed out to continue carrying in boxes, Aerith looked to Tifa.

" 'Break her in half'? Yeah, that's neutral." She remarked.

"I'm working on it." Tifa shrugged, unloading more silverware.

It was true. Tifa honestly had no right to hold animosity against Rinoa. A little unease, sure, some derision, fine, but she couldn't outright hate the girl. On what grounds? Rinoa had traversed entire worlds to find the man she loved…sound familiar? Tifa couldn't fault her for that. And Rinoa had seemed genuinely horrified that she had hit on Leon after finding out that he and Tifa were together. She had been nothing but helpful and supportive since. So Tifa really, truly, honestly, could not rightly hold a grudge.

Little bitch.

"Have you and Leon communicated since he left?" Aerith moved on, dragging Tifa out of her inner-monologue.

"I must have started a dozen different e-mails." Tifa said, nudging an empty box aside and starting on another one. "But it all sounds so…campy and like soap-opera drivel when it's written down." She frowned, "And he probably hasn't written because…well, he's busy trying to prevent two separate wars."

Aerith nodded empathetically. "I'm sad that he won't be home in time for the parade. He doesn't show it, but I know those kinds of parties cheer him up sometimes."

Tifa was getting tired of all this 'keeping up with Leon and Tifa' business. Surely there were more interesting or important things to chat about than their relationship status. She had exhausted her own mind and lost several hours of sleep about it already. Dwelling was doing nothing for her, so she searched for another topic.

"How are you and Cloud doing?" She abruptly asked.

Aerith nearly dropped the towels she was folding at the question. "Wh-what?"

"You and Cloud." Tifa asked flatly. "Dating, living together, any tension? Have you fought lately? Slept together yet?"

Aerith's face turned as pink as her dress. "That's…personal."

"And me and Leon aren't?" Tifa dropped the bomb. "I'm just trying to even out the field here. Couples fight. Do you two fight?"

Aerith set the towel on the counter. "You made your point. No need to be so snippy."

"I earned the right to be snippy after Jake friggin' Alms tried to give me advice the night Leon left." Tifa snorted.

"He didn't." Aerith smiled slowly.

"Oh, he did." Tifa bobbed her head. "So…I'm serious…Not-snippy this time. How are things with you and Cloud?"

Aerith fidgeted again, looking uncomfortable, and Tifa drew some satisfaction out of that. She considered Aerith a very dear friend, but the woman only knew boundaries when the questions were directed at her.

"Things are…fine." She responded after a pause, twittering about with the towels.

Tifa smiled understandingly. "He's a tough nut to crack."

"Yeah." Aerith nodded, then paused, looking embarrassed that she'd admitted it. "How did you do it?"

"Who says I did?" Tifa snickered. "Hence the 'tough'."

Aerith swallowed, hesitated, cleared her throat, and hesitated again. "He…I mean I feel…I don't know." She exhaled, leaning against the counter.

Tifa gave up unpacking as well and looked at her. Before their friendship turned romantic, Leon had been a good listener, letting Tifa rant and rave about Cloud, his shortcomings, his faults, all the ways that he had shunted her, etc. Now that those days were over and Tifa and Cloud were civil again, Tifa figured she could take a leaf from Leon and be the good listener for Aerith now. She stayed quiet.

"I knew he would be reluctant to open up," Aerith said. "He's been reserved and quiet for as long as I've known him. You've known him longer…Was he ever…open?"

Tifa pursed her lips and tilted her head, trying to find the box with the whiskey in it. "Before the Heartless, you mean?"

"I mean before…Sephiroth and his battle with the darkness." Aerith said quietly.

Tifa contemplated the question for a moment before looking to Aerith again. "Yes, he was. Before the darkness and the Heartless and the whole mess with Sephiroth…Cloud was open and friendly and never kept secrets. He was still shy, but…only because he was too proud and too private to admit some things."

Aerith smiled softly at that. "Some things don't change, I guess."

"Everything changes," Tifa lifted her shoulders, "Just some less than others." She pushed her hair from her eyes. "Trust me—it took me waaay too long to figure it out—Cloud just has trust issues."

"He doesn't trust me?" Aerith looked surprised.

"He doesn't trust himself." Tifa corrected. "Somehow he's managed to twist this entire darkness thing into his fault: like just being around people he cares about puts them in danger. I think he's snapped out of it for the most part, but I'm sure you know recovery is a twelve step process."

Aerith sighed, "And he's on step two and a half."

"Patience is a virtue." Tifa offered. "I just didn't have enough of it."

"And yet you had enough patience to lure Leon back out into the open." Aerith ribbed lightly.

Tifa chuckled, "Yes, well, whether he has enough patience with me is yet to be determined."

A quiet beat passed as they both separately reflected.

Yuffie walked in with another box. "Am I doing ALL of the work now? I don't even live here!"

Tifa snorted and bent over another open box. "I don't either, but hopefully I will soon."

Yuffie folded her arms, attempting to pout until Duke bounded into the house, her claws clacking across the wooden floor. The dog jumped up, paws landing on Yuffie's stomach. The ninja started to fight her, but then lost her balance and fell over as Duke's weight landed on her. From there, Yuffie just squawked and started wrestling with the canine on the floor.

Aerith took Tifa's cue and resumed unpacking kitchen-ware, setting the items on the counter while Tifa put them away in their rightful places. Yuffie eventually tired of playing with Duke and went around to snoop around the rest of the house.

"You know that you and Leon are going to be fine, right?" Aerith prompted after a few minutes of quiet unpacking.

Tifa crossed into the living room, hefting the chest up with both arms. "I know."

"Like you said, couples fight."

"I know."

"Do you believe in soulmates?"

The question was so out of the blue that Tifa nearly dropped the chest she was carrying up the stairs. She staggered and looked back at Aerith. "No. Why?"

Aerith looked thoughtful. "I think it would just make everything easier."

**..:-X-:..**

Gunfire peppered through the forest of MX9, complemented by the sound of boots moving over foliage and claws clattering across bark. Six hours after establishing camp on the new world, the Allied soldiers had had their first ambush by the Heartless of Jamestown. Now, two weeks later, it felt like they were still engaged the same ambush. The attacks had been relentless and took place at all hours of the day and night.

It was exhausting, but it was also worth nothing that Jamestown in the middle of summer was absolute Hell. As the members of Leon's platoon moved across the landscape, the same couldn't be said for the Heartless. The dark creatures had adapted to look like deranged forms of the natural beasts of MX9. Wolves, bears, large birds…and of course Heartless that posed as trees only to break an unwary man's neck with a swung branch and the occasional Heartless that was made of solid water.

Drawing up against a boulder, Leon signaled his second in command, Private Emily Young, and dropped to one knee. She ducked out from the tree where she was staked out and rolled up beside him, firing her weapon a foot over his head as he unjammed the trigger mechanism in the Gunblade.

A whole pack of wolf Heartless was keeping them occupied at the moment, tearing into any sign of flesh they could get their jaws around. Leon already had four soldiers laid up from related attacks, one of which had to have two fingers amputated. Another marksman's career cut short. Clearing the chambers on his weapon, Leon reached back and swatted Young's leg to signal he was ready. He started to stand, but the private kept firing.

Dropping back again, he knocked her leg more firmly. "The hit means clear out." He yelled over the gun reports.

She bumbled through an apology and staggered backwards, covering the other side of the boulder. She was twitchy and stuttered a lot—reminded him of a rookie McCallister—but she had better aim than McCallister had had as a rookie.

The trees shifted to their left and Leon turned, drawing up the Gunblade just as a bear Heartless barreled out of the shadows, launching at him like a furry freight train. Unable to duck or dodge, Leon set his footing and barked an order to get Young's attention. The bear Heartless reared up on its hind legs just as it reached Leon and swung one large claw.

Instead of backpeddling to avoid the swipe, Leon lunged forward, nearly faceplanting into the thick, hot fur of the Heartless's chest. He drove the Gunblade up, tip first, into the beast's ribcage and sliced sideways. The Heartless roared angrily and its other claw convulsively slammed in retaliation against Leon's shoulder. He felt the joint immediately dislocate and tore the Gunblade free with his good hand, tucking and rolling away from the creature.

Young and Private Clark Spencer had taken up position and gunned down the dying Heartless, finishing it off.

"Sir—" Spencer started, but a second bear Heartless launched out of the woods in front of them.

Leon snapped up to his feet, watching the bear tear toward the backside of the platoon, toward the squad of soldiers who had been fighting wolf Heartless for the past three hours. He glared at Young and Spencer. "Lock down this area."

Their clipped responses were ignored as he moved in an arc around the trunks of the large trees. That squad had been worn down from fighting quick, small, dodgy creatures. They would be thrown off by the minivan-sized Heartless that was coming for them. If he could cover their blind side and curtail the wolf Heartless, though, maybe—

The ground suddenly disappeared and Leon found himself rolling down the rocky slope of the forest floor. He kept a loose grip but a close control over the Gunblade, careful not to let go but doubly careful not to let it impale him as he finally came to rest on the damp soil at the bottom of the hill.

With a grunt, he sat up and shook the leaves from his face, noting that now blood had joined the sweat and dirt and Heartless guts staining his clothes. The rocks had cut up his forearms and his knees, but the impact had reset his shoulder, so there was one positive.

"Stay down, mate." A gruff voiced barked. "And drop the…sword…thing."

Leon looked up to see a man built like a truck, dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, stubble darkening his cheeks, long rifle aimed at Leon's chest, standing roughly ten feet away.

Dammit.

He sighed and released the Gunblade. A second, red haired man that Leon hadn't immediately noticed stepped over and quickly picked up the weapon. These two were definitely MX9 inhabitants, or at the very least, not Allied soldiers.

"On your feet." The man with the rifle ordered lowly.

"Where'd he come from?" The red head quipped, looking down at the Gunblade, "And what in the world is this thing?"

Leon slowly got to his feet, spreading his palms in a show of non-aggression.

"D'you think he's one of the savages?" The red head asked, looking to his friend.

"Ah, he's not one o'them red devils." The first man muttered, "But he's not one of us."

"He speaks English." Leon remarked, eying them both.

Both men straightened, both looking suspicious again.

"Where'd you come from, lad?" The dark haired man asked.

Dammit, dammit, dammit, Leon inwardly groaned. These two looked downright colonial. If he even tried to start explaining how he was part of an intergalactic Alliance, they'd probably tie him up for witch craft or try to exorcize him or something.

Both men were dressed casually, but he could see healing scrapes and cuts, bug bites, and scuffed shoes that weren't appropriate for the terrain. They certainly weren't natives of this area of MX9, that was for sure. That could work in his favor, if these guys were explorers.

"I'm from a camp several miles north of here." He replied. "My men and I have been surveying the area—"

"Spaniards!" The red head snapped his fingers. "They're trying to dig up all the rest of gold. Don't even want to give us a shot at it!"

Leon blinked in confusion at that, but the dark haired man narrowed his eyes, apparently seeing his friend's train of thought.

"Aye, if that's the way of it…You're coming with us, lad."

Leon groaned again. This was a waste of time. His platoon was on its own right now, fighting a bunch of soul-thirsty Heartless, and he was being held at rifle-point by two buffoons who thought he was here to search for something as mundane as gold.

But he had little choice as the two marched him through the woods. The men jerked their heads around at every little noise and shadow. Leon racked his brains as he was forced along with them. They seemed to be aware of the threat in the shadows. Though what 'savages' were or why he was being associated with them, he had no clue.

They soon walked upon a walled off fort, with toppled trees serving as a fence surrounding the camp. It looked relatively new and the hacked off trunks surrounding the fort served as evidence that these guys and their people hadn't been around too long. Leon gauged around a month or so. He was marched to a small slot between the interlocking walls and then forced inside with his two captors.

There was an entire camp inside the expansive walls of the fort. It encircled a large swath of shoreline, where a full sized wooden ship was anchored, several dozen meters from the bank. Most of the structures were just simple tents, with a larger tent near the center of the fort. His initial assessment had been right: they were explorers…in search of gold. That meant there was another continent across that sea. But he would have to worry about that later.

"Governor Radcliffe!" The red head called out. "We've got a matter on our hands."

Leon kept his hands at his sides, careful not to show any signs of fleeing or attacking around the group of hundred or so men, all with rifles or pick axes. Out of the center tent came a large man clad in a purple outfit that stood stark against the gray, brown, and black surroundings of the fort. He looked like a 300 pound man placed on stubby legs only meant to hold a 180 pound man. He had a turkey neck, dark hair, and a greedy expression.

"Is it the savages?" He barked, striding over to them.

"No, but we found this chap wandering around in the woods…with this." The dark haired man took the Gunblade from his companion.

The Radcliffe character marched up, getting directly in Leon's face. Leon didn't step away, though the heavily perfumed scent of the man tempted him to. It was like thick cologne covering body odor. He remained quiet as the man gave him a onceover. Then he straightened and took the Gunblade from his subordinate. He studied it.

"We think he's one of the Spanish fleet." The red head said. "Said he's got a camp a few miles north. Probably the Spaniards trying to find the gold before we do."

"This isn't from Spain." The dark haired man nodded toward the Gunblade.

"Where is the gold?" Radcliffe asked, glaring at Leon.

Leon exhaled heavily. "I'm not here for gold."

"We're all here for the gold." Radcliffe snarled. "And I could have you hanged for trespassing and trying to hide it from us."

"I wasn't trespassing." Leon growled back. "Your thugs brought me here." He mentally ran through a list of plausible excuses. "My team and I are just surveying the area for future exploring."

He was talking out his ass, but most of the men seemed ready to accept it. Radcliffe still looked suspicious, but Leon was starting to get the impression that a liar could always sense another liar nearby.

"Looks like he just took a wrong turn to me." Another man sidled up, his blond hair standing out like a beacon through the camp.

"You survey land with a strange weapon." Radcliffe remarked, ignoring the newcomer.

And you're shaped liked a bowling ball, Leon swallowed the comment, opting for silence.

"What do you think, Smith?" One of the men asked. "Is he a savage?"

"Or a Spaniard?" The second man prompted.

Smith smirked and glanced sideways at Leon. Radcliffe looked ruffled, but Smith didn't look too threatened. But he also looked rightly suspicious at Leon's strange clothing and weapon. Leon wasn't sure what to think. He and his soldiers had scouted the camps for two weeks, and found two distinctly different parties. One was this fort, though they had never seen these men. The other was a more primitive camp, with darker skinned people who had obviously been on the land for many years and were very familiar with it. How Leon's soldiers hadn't been found out by the latter party, he had no idea. Or maybe they had been discovered and the darker skinned people were just leaving them alone, however unlikely.

The explorer/settlers were still talking.

Apparently, even though Radcliffe was the governor, this Smith fellow seemed to carry more clout with the men.

"You're dressed a little funny, but I don't see any reason to hang him." Smith remarked.

Small reliefs.

"Can I go?" Leon asked nonchalantly.

Smith snatched the Gunblade back from Radcliffe playfully and handed it handle first back to Leon. "Sure."

"No!" Radcliffe snapped. "I demand that we put him in chains until we can verify his camp and where he came from."

Leon took his weapon back. "That won't be necessary."

"He could be reporting right back to those red skinned devils!" Radcliffe barked.

Smith clapped a hand on Leon's shoulder—as though they were buddies or something. "Easy, governor. I'll walk him out and see for myself."

Radcliffe ground his molars, but appeared placated. "Report to me as soon as you get back." He said pointedly.

"Will do." Smith gave a lackadaisical salute and led Leon back out of the fort.

Leon didn't like the hand on his shoulder, but he wasn't going to shove off the man who had probably just saved him several hours of tedious explanations and possibly detainment. Smith seemed to be more open minded, too, so Leon decided to test him.

"I don't have a camp." He remarked as soon as they left the fort.

"Yeah, I figured as much." Smith took his hand back. "What's with this get up?" He gestured to Leon's outfit and sword. "You look ready to fight vampires."

"I have a team of soldiers. We really are surveying the area." Leon replied. "We're hunting the monsters in the woods."

Not everyone knew 'Heartless' or 'shadow creatures', but 'monsters' was a universal term for the paranormal or unnatural beasts. By Smith's minute hesitation, it struck a chord.

"I think you'd have better luck finding the natives instead of chasing shadows." Smith smirked.

"I…don't really have an interest in the natives." Leon replied. "Are those the 'savages'?" He asked, looking to Smith.

The blond man exhaled. "More or less."

There was a slight pause in his answer that told Leon that Smith didn't completely agree with the term 'savages'. And he found himself wondering why. The Alliance was well aware of the big ugly taking place between the two parties on this world, though they had never found a basis for it nor evidence of a huge battle yet.

And now one of the settlers was showing some reluctance to refer to these enemies as 'savages'. That was interesting.

"Well, good luck with your monster hunting." Smith said, hands on his hips.

Just like that? This man was just going to let him go? Leon could be a raging lunatic, just waiting to pounce on them and kill them all in their sleep when they let their guard down.

He wasn't going to complain though. He had a platoon to get back to, and worrying about this group of men in their little tree and mud fort weren't high up on his list of concerns.

"Thanks." Leon said tersely. "Good luck on finding your gold."

Smith snorted and muttered something, but Leon was already heading back into the forest. When Smith didn't pursue, he picked up his pace and soon found the base of the hill where he had been found by the two men. Making his way back up to the top, he paused to catch his breath. He hadn't realized that he'd wandered that far from the fight with the Heartless

Soon though, he was able to find a trail and backtrack his way to the platoon. They were nursing their wounds and preparing to make the trek back to base.

"Sir, where did you go?" Private Young hailed him, a bandage over her left eye.

"I was held up." He answered, moving among the soldiers. "Made first contact with one of the parties living here."

The rest of the squad looked over at him as if to say 'and?'

"We might have a problem."


	13. Rebuttal

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are Duke and the various OCs smattered about in this chapter. Apologies for any typos/errors. I was too burnt-out to proofread it very closely. Constructive criticism welcome and appreciated!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Thirteen: Rebuttal**

Over the course of the following week, the platoons on MX9 continued to work on eradicating the Heartless. It seemed like for every Heartless that was destroyed, there were five to take its place. And the beasts were getting creative. Imitating bears and wolves wasn't enough for them anymore. Now Heartless were attacking as swarms of locusts and rock golems.

Some of them were even mimicking the two opposing groups of inhabitants: the settlers and the darker skinned people, the latter of which Leon and Major Banks were observing from afar at the moment. It had become apparent not long after Leon's accidental encounter with the settlers that interaction with the inhabitants of MX9 could not be entirely avoided. This brought to light the tricky matter of inter-galactic affairs. Leon had never been good at dealing with people, even less so with people who are at each other's throats.

A group from Major Simon's squad had been sent to scout the settlers' fort and observe them, to get a better idea of who those people actually were. No other communication had taken place between the Allied soldiers and the settlers since Leon had escaped them. Neither had the settlers attempted to go out and find the 'Spanish recon camp' that Leon had made up. That lack of follow-up made Leon suspicious, but it wasn't a chief concern at the moment.

Lieutenant Walker had made initial contact with the darker skinned people three days ago. While these natives, these Indians, had been lukewarm and untrusting of Walker and the handful of Allies he had taken with him, they had not been outright hostile either. Leon had watched from the shadows as he was now, and had seen the chief, a broad-shouldered man with a stern, patient face, greet Walker and exchange words with him. Leon and two squads from the camp had remained hidden beyond the treeline, just in case things took a bad turn.

But after a brief conversation, Walker had bowed himself out of the village and returned unscathed with his soldiers. His analysis had been that the Indians weren't happy about neither the settlers nor the Allies being here—the words 'invaders' and 'pale faces' had been thrown around—but that they would not bother with the Allies if the Allies left them alone. The natives seemed more aware of the darkness beyond the shadows than the settlers had been.

That made this situation more promising. While the settlers' suspicion could be written off as superstition and paranoia, the concern of the Indians was backed by a real knowledge of the right and tangible evil that was lurking on the world. And with that in mind, Leon and Banks had decided to lead a small secondary recon to evaluate these potential allies.

Meanwhile, Walker and Simon were leading more soldiers in battle against the Heartless. That seemed reversed from what Leon would have preferred, but beggars couldn't be choosers. At his immediate left, Banks let out a low hiss.

"Damn, they grow'em big out here." She gestured shortly to the end of the village.

Leon followed her hand to see a group of men talking outside one of the houses. One in particular stood out: tall, drawn face, and what looked like two red bear prints on his chest. It didn't take an idiot to tell that these were the village warriors. Since Leon wasn't an idiot, he could tell that they were strong warriors and battle wasn't a mystery to them.

"Let's hope we don't come to blows with them or we're fucked." Banks murmured.

"We won't come to blows with them." Leon reprimanded lightly. "But you're right."

Banks snorted at that.

"It is difficult to pretend you are not there when you keep making yourselves obvious."

The third voice caused Banks to curse and Leon to go rigid. They both turned to see an elderly man with long gray hair standing several meters away, staring directly at them with a wise look. Banks cursed again under her breath. Leon felt like an idiot for being discovered.

He straightened out from behind their spot, standing in clear view now. The others in the village started at his appearance, though the warrior with the bear paws on his chest looked less surprised than suspicious. Beside Leon, Banks cursed again.

"We aren't here to fight." Leon said plainly.

"And yet you lurk in the shadows like preying wolves." The older man stated. "Why are you here?"

The warriors drew closer. Though their first contact had been non-aggressive, clearly the Indians weren't banking on the Allies to uphold that peace. Leon couldn't say he blamed them. To try and pacify their distrust, he reached behind him and drew the Gunblade. A ripple of tension bubbled across the Indians that were watching them. The old man merely stared at him, waiting for whatever he was about to do.

Leon held the Gunblade out, tip lower than the handle, and dropped it onto the soft grass in front of him. He wasn't sure what the proper way to communicate a truce was, but tossing down your only weapon had to be effective at least. Banks stood up beside him and did the same with her guns. The other five soldiers that accompanied them did the same.

"My name is Leon." He started, spreading his palms at his sides. "These soldiers and I are here from somewhere far away. We have come only to fight the dark creatures here, not you, nor the other…pale faced ones."

"You look like them." One of the warriors took a step forward. "You have weapons like theirs. You speak with their forked tongue."

"Sonova—"

"Banks, shut it." Leon hissed without looking at the woman beside him.

The chief, Walker said his name was Powhatan, appeared from one of the huts, staff in hand. He crossed over to the elderly man with a drawn expression.

"I thought that we agreed that you would leave us alone, and in exchange, we would not interfere with your war against the shadows." He said, his voice low and resonating. "What do you want now?"

"To warn you about those dark creatures." Banks spoke now. "They're trickier and more powerful than you think. They're more of a danger than those other 'white men'. You should give up this quarrel with the settlers and focus on the more dangerous enemy here."

Powhatan's face narrowed. "Those white men have been a plague upon my people." He folded his arms. "They do not know patience or respect. They know only greed and violence. They are the monsters who breed the darkness. Those shadows are borne from their hearts. They are the greater enemy than the shadows that are not shadows."

"That hatred seems to be swinging both ways to me." Banks remarked. "Sure, those guys aren't exactly the most gracious of guests, but you aren't exactly rolling out the welcome wagon either."

Leon lifted an arm in front of Banks to cut her off. "Banks, take the soldiers back to camp."

"Commander—" She started.

"You're not helping. Go fight Heartless."

"You're not serious—"

"Don't make me repeat myself." He narrowed his eyes at her.

Banks looked torn between snarling and punching him, but she just grunted, regathered her weapons, and led the rest of the squad away from the camp, back to the Allied base. As soon as they disappeared from view, Leon faced the Indians again.

"She wasn't wrong." He said delicately. "The Heartless—the dark creatures—are created by the darkness in people's hearts. Not just the settlers, but yours as well."

A few of the villagers murmured amongst themselves, but Powhatan remained quiet, hearing him out.

Leon continued. "I have been to the fort where the settlers are. I understand your concerns, but the greater nemesis here is the Heartless. And until both the settlers and your people set aside your anger and your hatred, that darkness will continue to create Heartless."

"They have attacked us without being provoked." One of the warriors spoke up. "They are demons and savages."

The older man calmly walked over and lifted the Gunblade from the grass. He struggled slightly with the weight of it, but appeared more interested in analyzing the weapon than in doing anything with it.

"This weapon is like the white invaders'." He remarked, indicating the chamber barrels of the shooting mechanism. "But it is also similar to ours." He trailed worn and knotted fingers past the chambers and over the smooth blade of the lower half. He looked to Powhatan. "This man and his warriors are the medium between us…Who is to say that these Heartless are not the medium that separates us?"

Powhatan kept narrow eyes, but slowly walked toward them and took the Gunblade, lifting it easily with one hand. The chief had a muscled physique, carved from life and battle, a far cry from the plump, turkey-necked hog who called himself 'governor' of Jamestown. The difference between the two leaders would have been amusing at another time.

Leon remained quiet, not wanting to disrespect the man, but also growing weary of walking around on eggshells. Powhatan scrutinized the Gunblade for a long moment before turning to address someone in the village.

"Daughter, what do you think?"

A woman with long black hair, even longer than Tifa's, stepped out from the group. Hesitant at first, she soon strode over to her father. Her dark eyes flickered between the chief, the Gunblade, and Leon. She didn't look afraid like some of the villagers behind her, merely curious and apprehensive of the stranger with the strange weapon.

Without touching it, she looked over the Gunblade in her father's hands and then looked to Leon, scrutinizing him as well. Leon offered only a deadpan look. He had better things to do at the moment than get stared at by the chief's daughter…like…you know…that whole Heartless thing?

A light wind rustled the trees, and a few multi-colored leaves twirled through the air.

"He's telling the truth." She finally spoke, with the same firmness as her father. "I have seen the darkness."

"Pocahontas." Powhatan blinked at that admission.

The woman, Pocahontas, continued to stare at Leon. "I have seen those creatures…the Heartless." Her expression became unreadable. "I have seen what they can do to people."

Something about her tone suggested that she wasn't talking about stealing hearts. Powhatan continued to look at his daughter. After a beat, he shifted his grip on the Gunblade and offered the handle back to Leon. He took his weapon back and replaced it at his belt.

"We have never engaged the creatures in battle." The chief said, looking less suspicious after his daughter's two cents. "How do you fight them?"

Of all the questions whose answer was complicated, he had chosen the omega. Leon decided to not get into the whole Keyblade bit of the legend and instead skipped straight to the only information that really mattered to the natives of MX9.

"They die like any other beast." Leon explained. "But they are smarter than most animals. More powerful and resilient too. And they move like shadows."

"We have fought powerful and resilient enemies before." The man with the bear claw tattooes finally joined in. "And we have defeated them too."

Pocahontas looked less than enthused at his entrance, but she said nothing.

"I am not your enemy." Leon said, bristling slightly at the warrior's territorial tone. "My soldiers and I are only here to defeat the Heartless. Then we will leave."

"Will you take the other invaders with you?" Bear Claw Tattoos asked.

"No." Leon answered honestly. "That is out of my hands." He inhaled. "But I urge you not to stoke the fire here. Your people and the settlers don't have to get along, but unless you can find a way to co-exist, the darkness will continue to grow and people will continue to get hurt."

"The only people being hurt so far are ours." Bear Claw Tattoos remarked. "Those pale-faced barbarians are the only evil I see."

Pocahontas looked sharply at him at that, but just as quickly looked away. Leon appeared to be the only one in the conversation who saw it. His curiosity spiked despite himself. She seemed as uncomfortable with the term 'barbarians' as the blond settler Smith had been with the term 'savages'.

So at least not every single person on this world wanted to fight.

"With your permission," Leon started, ignoring Bear Claw Tattoos' remark and addressing the chief instead. "I would like to continue to scout this land with my soldiers. You have my word that none of my people will make any attempt to harm yours."

Powhatan looked perturbed, but he didn't immediately reject the idea. Leon decided to press his luck.

"It would also be wise for your people to prepare themselves against the Heartless. Eventually they will no longer just be shadows. If they become strong enough, they will actually attack your village." He said slowly.

For a long pause, no one said anything.

"Do your scouting." Powhatan finally said, giving Leon an even look. "Fight the dark creatures. We will fight them if we must. Until that time comes, we are not allies. Nor are we enemies." His expression remained serious. "Now leave our village."

"Great Powhatan," the warrior beside him started. "The pale faces—"

"Kokoum." The chief interrupted him. "That is my decision."

Kokoum didn't look happy about it, but he didn't dare speak out again. Powhatan returned his eyes to Leon's.

"Now, please leave our village."

Again, Leon wasn't sure what this culture's etiquette was, so he went for a safer bet. Lowering into a short bow, he took a few steps backwards.

"Yes, sir. Thank you for your cooperation." He said sincerely.

The daughter, Pocahontas, hesitated, and then abruptly turned and crossed away from her father, toward the deeper part of the woods. She quickly disappeared into the trees, and though the others turned to watch after her, no one made any motion to follow her. It must have been a common happening.

Leon left the village, backtracking after the rest of the recon team, a thousand thoughts mulling through his head. So now at least the Indians were on their side…well, they were less against them. The settlers were another matter. Something about the settlers made Leon feel untrusting of them. Less the men themselves than that governor of theirs.

But if they were going to succeed in stamping out the Heartless population here, they were going to have to start with stamping out this imminent civil war. And the best way to do that would be to work through the people on either side who were less inclined to fight. That definitely took Kokoum and Radcliffe off the case: those two seemed nearly up in arms.

Smith had seemed disinterested in fighting, and Pocahontas had seemed outright against it. Something was going on here, and it was starting to look more and more complicated. Maybe the Heartless were spawning from the darkness in their hearts, but was it also possible that the mere presence of the Heartless was also enhancing the darkness to begin with?

Talk about a vicious cycle.

Leon exhaled in exasperation as he hiked back to the Allied base. The dusk light caught on the edge of the Gunblade. The old man was right: the Alliance was the medium between them. But would this campaign be enough?

**..:-X-:..**

_Dear Leon…_

Dammit, it already sounded stupid…

Backspace that shit.

_Hey Leon…_

Double stupid…More backspacing.

_Leon…_

…fine.

The little vertical line on the screen was blinking after his name, like a taunting prompt, daring Tifa to try to put her feelings into words without…without what?

"Sounding like a total moron." She murmured, closing her laptop without saving the e-mail.

She set the computer aside and slid off of the bed, standing and stretching. It was barely six am and she was wide awake. There were stacks of information piling up regarding the upcoming parade in two weeks. Continuing to ignore them, she got dressed and left the apartment with Duke to take the dog for a walk.

It was a rare opportunity to walk around Radiant Garden without also patrolling for Heartless. Technically it was Cid's shift for patrol, which probably meant his interns were patrolling for him. Duke bounced this way and that, chasing those birds, barking at that squirrel, sniffing at that old lady standing by the war memorial—

"Duke." Tifa reprimanded, "Stop it."

But Duke took no order from anyone but Leon, so the canine continued to harass the woman for attention, which the woman happily gave. Tifa approached, beginning to understand why Leon had never bothered with a leash.

Luckily, the residents of Radiant Garden were well aware of Duke's friendliness and presence around the town, so the dog knew no enemies in this world. God be with the poor soul who wandered in town who wasn't a dog person.

"This mutt is just spoiled rotten, isn't she?" The old woman tutted, ruffling the fur at Duke's neck, while the canine's tongue lolled happily.

"You have no idea." Tifa put her hands on her hips, looking from Duke to the woman. "Good morning, Agnes."

Agnes Harker was a somewhat-cranky old woman who ran a shoe shop downtown. She was less of a people person than Leon and Cloud put together, for what it was worth. But she was never downright unfriendly…just…more blunt than a brick about her opinion.

"And here I thought only old farts like me were ever up and about at this time of morning." Agnes snorted.

"What about the workaholic soldiers?" Tifa suggested.

"They're seven am-ers. Six o'clock is old people territory." Agnes remarked, straightening. "What's your excuse?"

"Insomnia."

"Bullshit."

Tifa blinked, but the woman didn't seem interested in Tifa's real reason for being out so early…just wanted to call her out on her fib. She sighed and glanced at the war memorial. Insomnia wasn't a total lie: it was harder to sleep alone after so long sharing a bed with another warm body…and Duke didn't count. Then the endless mulling about…everything.

"You people make things so complicated." Agnes snapped.

Tifa halted, disrupted in her thoughts. "Beg pardon?"

"I can practically HEAR you angsting. You're too old for that shit." Agnes waved a hand.

Tifa's eye twitched and she folded her arms. "Well, it IS complicated."

"Only because you're being a dingbat about it."

"You don't even know what I was thinking about!"

"Puh." Agnes turned from the memorial. "You're trying to build a bridge over dry land."

Tifa faced her. "What does that mean?"

"It means you're trying to fix something that ain't broke." Agnes said. "Three failed marriages and four estranged kids: I know that look on your face is personal troubles. And because you're one of those Restoration Committee people, I can't escape the gossip."

Gossip? Tifa felt dread.

"You two need to quit boning on each other and get it over with."

"Excuse me?" Tifa balked.

"Everyone knows that you two have the warm fuzzies for each other." Agnes went on. "I don't see what all the big hoopla is about."

"Warm fuzz—I'm in love with him and his ex is walking around in the works…and he's been gone for nearly a month! That's the big hoopla!" Tifa made two fists at her sides.

Agnes paused, looked at Tifa in confusion, and then squinted to get a better look at her. "Oh…sorry, thought you were that Gainsborough girl."

Tifa deadpanned. Duke barked at a squirrel.

"So I guess that makes you Tifa?" Agnes went on. "Ah, I can't never keep you people straight." She waved it off. "From what I hear, you're being as much of a dingbat as Gainsborough anyway."

Tifa couldn't argue with that…didn't mean that she appreciated it.

"So I'm just supposed to be okay?" She folded her arms.

"Yep."

"But what if—"

"If that Leonhart kid can listen to you bitch about Cloud Strife for however many years he did without dumping you, then you can have the lady-balls to put up with a month of his ex-girlfriend tottering around." Agnes gave her a sideways look.

Tifa paused. "I thought the older generation was supposed to give sage advice?"

Agnes rolled her eyes, "Then here's my advice: get your head out of your ass and trust the man. I've heard what went down between you and Cloud—God knows we're all sick'a hearin' about it—but you can't be all paranoid with Leon just because Cloud was a doink."

Tifa sighed and didn't respond to that. Agnes obviously didn't know the whole story. This wasn't just about Rinoa coming back. It also had to do with the whole Hades deal…but she wasn't exactly eager to spread that tidbit to everybody. But the old woman did have a point: Tifa couldn't keep wallowing around in paranoia and self pity.

"Yeah well," Tifa snapped her fingers to get Duke's attention. "Leon still destroyed my couch." She remarked to lighten the mood.

Agnes snorted, turning to walk away. "I saw that couch when you two moved into that apartment…The world is glad to be rid of it."

As the old woman walked away, Tifa got Duke back under control and continued to walk in the other direction. The clock tower of the Radiant Garden Bank chimed seven am and, as though on cue, the rest of the town began to wake up and meander out into the streets. The stores began to open and the soft sound of morning chatter filled the air. With two weeks until the parade, Radiant Garden was starting to get into a festive mood. It was a nice change from the sullen atmosphere that followed the Campaign's departure.

She eventually wandered over to Cid's body shop. The building had been the first Gummi hangar on Radiant Garden, but it had been outgrown after the Alliance was established, the military became a travelling force, and inter-world commerce picked up. When the new massive hangar had been built, Cid had bought out the old hangar and built onto it to create his own mechanic shop. Currently, it was also doubling as the garage where one of the parade committees was working on the floats.

Cid was reading the newspaper and drinking his morning coffee when she entered the building, and he looked up and gave her a little nod in greeting. She returned it and headed into the hangar to check out the progress on the floats. There were two or three people mulling around—probably between work shifts—and Tifa only recognized one immediately.

"What are you doing here, Alms?" She said, spotting him up on one of the floats, tinkering with a half-painted block of some kind.

Jake Alms looked up and beamed at her. "Gooood morning, my lotus blossom."

Tifa gave him a flat look as Duke darted around the float. "Yeah, yeah, what are you doing here?"

"What does it look like?" He straightened, "I'm painting."

"Is this part of your community service hours?" She remarked.

"I take offense to that." He hopped off the trailer. "Unlike some people, I actually care about this parade and the overall psychological wellbeing of Radiant—"

"You're trying to pick up women, aren't you?" She interrupted.

"And it's working." Jake winked, wiping the paint from his hands to his pant legs. "I almost got Rinoa's number yesterday."

Tifa balked at him, but Jake lifted his hands.

"Hey! I'm on your side with this, but you have rejected me. My poor little heart has been scorned and she may be the one to save me from my sorrow." He said melodramatically.

"I thought McCallister scorned you." Tifa remarked smartly.

There was only a minute hesitation in Jake's response. "I'm over her."

"But since you said 'almost', then I guess Rinoa didn't give you her number?" Tifa taunted.

Jake pointed at her. "I'm biding my time. Mark my words. I will get a date."

"You're going to get slapped."

"If that's what she's in to."

Tifa gave him a disgusted look and left him there, going back out to the office of the hangar where Cid was. Duke had sat herself down beside Cid's chair, watching the man with perked ears. Cid ignored the dog but looked up when Tifa walked in.

"Why haven't we deported Alms to Land of Dragons or something?" She greeted.

Cid snorted and lit his first cigarette of the morning. "Because he hasn't technically done anything wrong."

"He creeps me out. Is that wrong enough?" She remarked.

Cid's retort was interrupted as the door opened and Rinoa walked in, bright eyed and bushy tailed. Apparently she was a terminal morning person.

"Gooood morning!" She chirped as she closed the door after her.

Cid offered his obligatory head nod, puffing on his cigarette. Duke lifted her head. Tifa waved a hand in greeting. Rinoa looked wrongfooted to see Tifa here, since Tifa hadn't been involved in the float design or construction so far. And unlike Tifa, Rinoa hadn't quite gotten the hang of hiding her discomfort yet.

"Er—off I go." She awkwardly shifted toward the hangar area.

She might as well have taken off running.

Tifa exhaled and looked to Cid. Cid looked back at her over the rim of his coffee. Tifa groaned and hung her head.

"I know. I'm going." She straightened and walked after the woman.

Jake Alms had already spotted Rinoa and was about to hail her, but Tifa cut him off.

"Rinoa, wait." She said, catching up to her.

Rinoa spun around so fast that Tifa skidded to a stop in her steps. "Yes?"

"I—" Tifa paused and frowned.

She actually had no idea what she was doing or about to say. All she knew was that she was tired of being awkward around Rinoa…and more importantly, she was tired of everybody acting like they had to walk around on eggshells because of this.

"Are you still staying at the hotel?" She inwardly punched herself in the neck for the lame greeting.

"Oh…yes. I'm apartment hunting right now though." Rinoa mirrored her discomfort.

"Oh." Keep talking, idiot! "Well, we're moving into a house together—" Way to rub it in her face, asshole. "—and I was going to put an ad out on our apartment…but if you were looking for one anyway…"

Yeah, because she's really going to jump at the opportunity to live where you and Leon had sex for over a year. Tifa forcibly shut up the nagging voice in her head.

Rinoa looked bewildered for a moment, but then smiled. "Really? That…that would be awesome."

Tifa deflated slightly. It wasn't much, but it was as much of an olive branch as she could manage at the moment. "Great…Okay, cool. Um…so I guess you'll want to take a look at the place…"

"Yeah." Rinoa bobbed her head, "Maybe after the parade: things are pretty crazy right now."

"Sure…sure…" was the introduction to another long silence.

And we're back to awkward.

"I'm sorry." Tifa blurted.

Rinoa blinked, "Hm? For what?"

"I haven't been handling the past month well and I've been taking it out on you. It was wrong of me to hate you, so I'm sorry. I'm putting it behind me." Trying to anyway.

Rinoa's eyes were wide as Tifa spoke. When Tifa stopped talking, the girl swallowed.

"You…hated me?" Her eyes got glassy.

Oh God…

"Well—no, I mean—that might be a strong word—it was—the whole situation—"

Agnes' voice echoed in her head: dingbat.

Jake Alms walked by whistling to himself. Tifa involuntarily grabbed his elbow and jerked him into the conversation to create an escape route for herself.

"Hey, have you met Jake?" She backpedaled.

Luckily, Jake slipped into flirtatious conversation like a second skin, and Tifa dragged her sorry self back out to the office. Cid wasn't there anymore, but Duke looked up at her.

"Well, that was embarrassing." She mumbled. "Want to go home?"

Duke stood and stretched with a yawn. Tifa walked out of the office and into the streets. By then, Radiant Garden had woken up entirely. It was too early in the day for this.

**..:-X-:..**

**A/N:** 'Have you met Jake?' is a nod to the television show How I Met Your Mother, and the game of 'Have you met Ted?'. I was on a HIMYM binge when I wrote this chapter. No affiliation or ownership!


	14. Replay

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are the various filler OCs that snuck in here. **

**Mhmrmfgh…mixed feelings about how I wrote this chapter. Most of it was written while my brain was a puddle of post-test goo in my skull. But, if this chapter is messy, the good news is that the home stretch is almost upon us! Things start to get real juicy next chapter, so stick around!**

**As always, constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Fourteen: Replay**

The rest of the week didn't get much easier.

A plume of purple haze burst out of the Heartless as Tifa kicked through it. The creature died with a screech and dissolved into the air. Tearing her leg out of the purple smoke, she spun around just as two more of the beasts launched themselves at her. Ducking and rolling out of the way, she signaled to her recruit, Michael Hanson, who immediately doubled back around to take the large bodied, green-armored Heartless from the side.

Tifa spun into a tight roundhouse kick, sending both of the charging Heartless back against the wall. Two more of her subordinates, Clancy and Burns, finished them off. An explosion behind her made Tifa stagger to regain her balance, and she turned just in time to catch a face-full of Heartless remains. The creature had been disemboweled by a well placed Fire Spell. The purple innards smelled like burned fat and oil.

Blinking it out of her eyes, she glared at the spellcaster. Private Connor gave her a sheepishly apologetic look before darting off to aid more soldiers against the Heartless. It was the most notable uprising of Heartless since before the Campaign left for MX9. The Heartless had spat out a number of grunts and small-fry creatures across the Ravine Trail. It was far enough away from the main town for the civilians not to be alarmed, but it was violent enough for the Alliance to deploy a small squad to squash it.

Since Tifa had barely seen any field action since her mission with Yuffie over a month earlier, she had quickly volunteered to head the squad. Beating the Hell out of Heartless made her feel incrementally more useful and accomplished.

And watching Heartless die was always a satisfying pastime.

Wiping the splatter from her eyes, Tifa spat some it out of her mouth before giving chase after a group of Dancer Nobodies who had infiltrated the Crystal Fissure. The rest of the Ravine Trail had been canvassed by her interns: they could handle themselves while she took care of the Dancers.

The swishing creatures were swaying to and fro across the Crystal Fissure, moving around the reflections that came off the jade crystals that jutted out of the rock walls. As soon as they spotted Tifa, however, their movements became more volatile as they charged at her. She sidestepped to avoid the first one that reached her. The Nobody changed direction at the last second and dragged its javelin-like forearm across her arm.

Grunting, Tifa spun and punched the thing in the neck, slinging it away from her. Swirls of nothingness from more of the creatures forked around her, singing at her skin as she wriggled away from the attacks.

They swarmed at her from all sides, relatively undeterred by her kicks and punches. They knicked and bit at her as they shot past her. Getting irritated at not landing a killing blow, Tifa shot one hand forward and grabbed the neck of the nearest Dancer.

"Thundaga!" She called out.

The lightning spell flowed down her body and into the Dancer in her grip. The force of it blasted from the first Dancer to the others that it was touching, spreading in a web of electrocution, zapping and dazing the creatures long enough for her to manually do away with them.

Finally, the bodies dissolved away and she was left standing in the Crystal Fissure, covered in Heartless guts and mild burns from nothingness, sweat and dirt. Pushing her hair from her eyes, she huffed and marched out of the fissure and back toward town.

The rest of her interns had cleared out the Ravine Trail and were also reporting back, and she noted that there were no serious injuries beyond a bruise there, a dislocated joint there. That was encouraging. Maybe her greenhorn recruits weren't such newbs after all. These small skirmishes had been helping them to hone their skills better than bi-monthly training missions.

The Headquarter Building was several blocks farther away than Merlin's house, so Tifa opted to stop by the cottage and clean up there before heading back to her office. Only Aerith was in the house when Tifa dragged herself in. Ever since Tifa had sort of snapped on Aerith two weeks prior for prying, Aerith had given her more space…not as far as avoiding her or being awkward. It was more of a friendly 'I won't ask anymore' acknowledgement, which Tifa appreciated.

Aerith looked up when Tifa walked in. Her eyes widened at her appearance. "You look like you've seen some action today."

"Something like that." Tifa remarked, peeling off her fighting gloves, which were caked with Heartless remains. "Some Heartless were causing trouble at the Ravine Trail."

"Bad?" Aerith asked, straightening some of the books on the shelves.

Tifa shrugged. "Deployed a squad to deal with it."

Aerith fidgeted with her hair slightly. "Oh. Good."

Before Tifa could inquire about that awkward gesture, the door opened again and Cloud walked in, looking just as disheveled as Tifa. He must have found his own snakepit of Heartless. Tifa gave him an empathetic nod in greeting. He started to smirk in return, but then looked at Aerith.

Aerith straightened, setting aside what she had been fiddling with. "I have to go." She abruptly crossed over to the door. "See you later, Tifa."

Tifa blinked, watching the door close after the flowergirl. A beat passed and Tifa turned to look back at Cloud.

"What did you do this time?" She asked flatly.

Cloud just shook his head and started to clean his broad sword, which was just as covered in Heartless guts as he was. "Are you all moved into the new house yet?"

It was a blatant attempt to change the subject, and Tifa was too tired to push him.

"No. It's been put on hold for now." She said, walking over toward the entrance to the back room of the house. "I'm going to clean myself up…and then you're going to tell me why Aerith is being weird."

"Thanks for the warning." He muttered after her.

Tifa started toward the shower room, but light in the kitchen got her attention and distracted her. Rubbing at some of the drying mud on her arm, she walked into the kitchen to investigate.

"—and the floats are coming along nicely. Yuffie keeps talking about an all-chocolate float for the parade, but I'll believe that when I see it."

That was definitely Rinoa's voice. It sounded like she was on the phone. She kept talking.

"Everybody has been really nice. I was worried that it would be weird…I mean…but it's not…Not really. It's getting better actually."

Tifa hesitated. She shouldn't be eavesdropping like this, if Rinoa was on the phone having a private conversation, but Tifa had already stepped deep into the kitchen. There would be no backtracking now without giving herself away.

Rinoa was sitting in the kitchen talking to…a video recorder. The lens stared over Rinoa's shoulder at Tifa, who blinked at the device in surprise. The other woman was sitting forward, hands on her knees, looking upbeat in her seat as she chattered on to the camera.

"So…anyway, I know you're busy, but…just thought I'd let you know what all's been going on back home…Stay safe, and—"

Some kind of sixth sense must have kicked in, because Rinoa stopped mid-sentence and turned around to catch Tifa in the act of eavesdropping. Rinoa didn't look the least bit offended or bothered by this, however.

"Oh, hi, Tifa." She greeted jovially. "Wow, what happened to you?"

Tifa tilted her head at the camera, "What is that?"

"I'm making a video message." Rinoa explained. "I'm going to record a message, download it to the computer, and e-mail it to Squ—Leon on MX9. I can talk faster than I type, so I figured this would be better than writing." She chirped.

Tifa looked from the camera, to Rinoa, and back to the camera. "Oh."

Rinoa paused. "Are you okay? I mean…you don't mind, do you?" She fidgeted.

Tifa lifted a hand, "No, it's fine…I just…didn't think—"

Quick as a flash, Rinoa stood and started unhooking the camera from the stand. "You want to say something? It's still recording."

The red light above the lens told Tifa as much.

"Er—" Tifa went dumb. "Uh…hi." She waved a hand pathetically at the camera.

"Oh…you can do better than that." Rinoa got behind the camera. "It's almost been a whole month. He's gotta be going stir crazy in that forest fighting Heartless."

Clearly, you don't know Leon very well, Tifa inwardly replied.

Instead, she found herself unsure what to say. She couldn't even compose one simple e-mail to him, much less record herself—while she looked like a banshee no less.

"Um…hey…Things are going fine here…but I guess Rinoa already told you that…" Tifa ran a hand through her hair…well, until she hit a clump of Heartless remains and cringed. "Duke is fine…I'm—" missing you like crazy. "—fine."

She shifted from foot to foot.

"So…hurry back and…I'll see you." She gave another awkward little wave.

There was more she wanted to say, but with Rinoa hovering there, she didn't want to get into it. But she also feared that if she didn't say something, it would send the wrong message.

She exhaled and looked into the lens. "I miss you, you idiot. So hurry up and beat those Heartless so you can come back home to me."

Rinoa looked at her funny at that, but Tifa didn't care.

Tifa straightened and looked at Rinoa. "Now I'm going to take a shower, because I look like I crawled out of a grave."

She paused when she saw that the camera was still running in Rinoa's hands. She gave the lens a wink and walked out of the kitchen, heading for the shower room in earnest now. It felt like a weight had been lifted slightly. After however long trying to find a way to communicate with Leon…Rinoa of all people had been the one to help her.

"Tifa." Rinoa's voice called after her.

Tifa stood in the doorway to the shower room, bag in hand, and she tiredly swiveled back to look at her. "What?"

"Are you…I mean—this isn't really my place but—are you two okay?" She asked.

Tifa gave her a flat look. "Depends…How many of these videos have you sent him?"

"This is the first one." Rinoa hastily explained. "I only just got the idea yesterday."

"And your clothes stayed on the whole time you were recording?" Tifa asked jokingly.

Rinoa's eyes widened in horror. "Of course! What kind of woman do you think I am?"

Tifa regarded her flatly for a moment. "You're right…Lemme see that camera."

Rinoa paused. "Why?"

"Because I'm the kind of woman I think I am." She nodded toward the shower.

Rinoa looked horrified.

Tifa laughed. "I'm just kidding." She walked into the shower room and closed the door.

"Mostly." She mumbled to herself as she set her bag down.

It took two hot showers to get all of the gunk off and another shower just to relax. Eventually, the hot water ran out and Tifa dried off, got dressed, and returned to the front room of Merlin's house. Cloud was still cleaning his sword. Rinoa was just leaving. An idea occurred to Tifa.

"Rinoa," She asked. "What ever happened with Jake?"

The other woman paused, looking at her in puzzlement. "Hm? Oh the guy from the floats…Um…not much. We talked about the parade and the weather and…then we got back to work."

Tifa blinked. "Really? You shot him down that fast huh?" She smirked. "Good girl."

Rinoa squinted one eye. "He…never hit on me."

Even Cloud snorted at that. Both women looked at him.

"What?" Cloud lifted his shoulders. "Alms hits on everything."

"Oh…" Tifa reprimanded lightly. "Not everything."

"Made a pass at me once." Cloud muttered with a shudder. "I think he was confused."

"What?" Tifa prompted.

"I don't wanna talk about it." Cloud took his sword and left.

The two women exchanged a look.

"Seriously?" Tifa went on. "Was his flirting so bad that you didn't even think he was flirting?"

"No…he wasn't flirting." Rinoa shrugged, "He seemed a little…uncomfortable…asked me if I knew when some soldier friend of his was coming back."

Tifa tilted her head, "Not McCallister?"

"Yeah…Is he a friend of his?"

"SHE is, sort of."

Rinoa nodded knowingly. "Ah, I see." She looked away and then back, "What you said last week…Did you really hate me?"

Tifa cringed. "No…I'm sorry…I shouldn't have said that…It's just…" She ran a hand through her damp hair. "Leon was messed up over you…for YEARS…and…I couldn't bear the thought of being second choice again."

"Again?"

Tifa lifted a hand to avoid going down that road. "I overreacted and I'm sorry. I don't hate you. I just don't particularly like you."

"Oh, well that's better." Rinoa replied flatly.

"You kissed him!" Tifa said sarcastically.

"He said you were his roommate." Rinoa lifted her shoulders.

They both looked at each other for a beat and then chuckled to themselves.

"We're all messed up, aren't we?" Rinoa offered.

Tifa put her hands on her hips. "It could be worse."

Rinoa looked at her for a follow-up.

Tifa shrugged. "Jake could have hit on you."

**..:-X-:..**

_Hey Tifa…_

Ugh. Erase that.

_Dear_—no.

_Hello Tifa…_

"Greetings!" Lieutenant Walker sauntered up to the makeshift table where Leon had been attempting to write an e-mail to Tifa for the past twenty minutes.

Exasperated, Leon closed the laptop and looked at the tactician. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing, it's just a lovely day and I wanted to—"

Walker was interrupted as Major Banks approached the table. "Tall, dark, and purple and his cohorts are here."

Both Leon and Walker followed her gesture to where Governor Radcliffe was being led into the neutral zone of the forest. By Smith. Leon frowned and stood, facing the nearing group of settlers. Radcliffe was flanked by four other men: two of which Leon recognized as the two who had marched him to their fort just a few weeks earlier. His frown deepened, and he noted that Smith didn't look particularly thrilled either.

"Good work, Smith." The purple turkey of a man said, but there was no warmth in the compliment. "I knew these people couldn't hide forever."

"Who's fucking hiding?" Banks folded her arms.

Leon shot her a look. All of the settlers looked at her as well in shock…Seeing as there were no women among their band of brothers, Leon assumed that their society was less than equivalent in their mentality about women. They were looking at Banks like she was an alien…which she technically was as far as MX9 was concerned.

Radcliffe cleared his throat first. "Where is your camp?" He demanded.

"And who are you?" Walker answered with a question.

"The Governor of this land and the founder of Jamestown." The man replied pompously. "My men and I own this land and all of the gold that is hidden here. And you," He pointed at the trio of Allies in general, "Are trespassers and liars…Spanish recon, do you think me a fool?"

Leon folded his arms. "Well, it did take you nearly two weeks to figure it out."

Smith lifted a hand to his mouth to cover the smirk, but Radcliffe didn't look amused.

"Silence!" He boomed. "Where is my gold?"

Walker's eyebrows shot up.

"We don't want your damn gold, fat ass." Banks snorted.

Radcliffe seethed and glared at Leon, "Get control of your wench."

Banks took a menacing step toward the governor. "You did NOT just—"

"Take a walk, Major." Leon said calmly.

Banks huffed, pointed at Radcliffe threateningly, and stalked off into the woods. As she disappeared, Smith let out a low whistle.

"Are all your women so…sassy?" He looked amused.

"And they all shoot pretty straight too." Walker added.

The other men behind Radcliffe and Smith shifted uncomfortably.

"We don't want any of the alleged gold around here." Leon said plainly, getting back to the matter at hand. "We're here to fight the Heartless…The shadow monsters."

The other men's reactions told Leon all he needed to know. They knew. Beyond simple superstition and the eyes playing tricks, they were aware of the physical presence of the darkness here in Jamestown. They also looked uneasy admitting it. And by Radcliffe's lax expression, this idiot was playing skeptic.

"You're trying to distract us with your lies…Well it won't work." He made a fist. "If you won't tell us where the gold is, it can only mean that you are working with those savages to hoard it all for yourselves!"

Smith twitched; Leon noticed.

"That's preposterous." Walker stepped forward.

"And if those savages are stealing what is rightfully ours, then we will have to take it by force!" Radcliffe addressed his men now. "This is our land, and thus our gold!"

"Weren't the Indians here first?" Walker pointed out.

"Assemble the men!" Radcliffe talked over Walker. "We must eliminate these savages, once and for all!"

"I mean, they have been here for many generations…You have been here for a grand total of two months." Walker went on.

Leon ground his molars. "The natives here don't have any of the gold either. Has it crossed your pea-sized brain that there IS no gold?"

That stopped Radcliffe short for a moment, but he quickly recovered.

"And I supposed those red skinned devils told you those lies? Of course they have the gold; we've searched everywhere else!" He barked.

"We've scouted their camps." Smith interjected, "If they had the gold, we would have seen it."

"Then they're hiding it!"

"Why would they hide all of it?" One of the other men said. "I'd be building me house pure out of the stuff if this place was as rich as you say."

"Because they're animals! It's what they know!" Radcliffe screeched. "That settles it! Tonight, we will gather the men and the weapons. Ready the guns! Tomorrow we attack those beasts and get rid of them!"

"No!" Smith and Leon both snapped.

The settlers looked more alarmed at Smith than at Leon.

"Smith, what's all this about?" One of the men asked.

While they started to bicker amongst themselves, Leon looked to Walker. They exchanged irritated looks. This whole situation was spiraling out of control. The Allied Campaign was barely keeping the Heartless attacks at bay, much less preventing this ridiculous war. And this hatred that was bubbling between the settlers and the Indians was only breeding more of the darkness, and thus more Heartless.

Basically, this nimrod and his followers were half of the problem that was keeping the Alliance here. Keeping Leon here. When he would rather be elsewhere…Like home…at Radiant Garden…with Tifa, at the house they bought, with Duke, and real coffee. He inwardly groaned and glared at the bickering group.

He was so sick of this. All of this hate and violence and darkness for something as mundane as gold? After so long battling Heartless for his home, his friends, and his right to breathe, the whole concept of fighting other human beings for greed was just…a waste of life and resources.

"Enough!" He finally snapped, stepping toward the fray. "There is no gold. Get it through your thick heads while you still have heads."

Radcliffe turned on him. "Is that a threat?"

"No, it's a kind reminder that you are not the only big players on this chess board." Leon gave his bowling-ball-physique a onceover. "Though you are up there."

Radcliffe snarled, but Smith grabbed his elbow. "Why don't you lead the men back to the fort?" Smith suggested. "I'm sure once you look at this with a clearer head, you'll see that there's no reason to go to war with the Indians."

"Smith?" One of the man looked confused at his comrades' words.

Radcliffe, however, just snarled. "This is not over." He glared at Leon.

Leon returned a stern look and Radcliffe turned in a huff, marching his men back the way they had come. Smith lingered, waiting until the settlers had walked out of earshot before turning back to Leon and Walker.

"What is really going on?" He asked firmly.

"We told you." Walker tried to explain. "There's no gold. We're only here to fight the darkness."

"Well, where is it coming from?" Smith asked, clipped. "How can I show Radcliffe and the men that the monsters are real, and that they're the bigger threat here?"

Walker quirked an eyebrow, so Leon took over.

"It's the nature of the Heartless—as we call the 'monsters'—to seek out strong hearts to…consume." He squinted one eye. "But they're created out of the darkness of people's hearts, and they feed on it until they take over the entire world."

Smith's eyes widened slightly. "You mean—"

"The Heartless are world killers." Walker explained. "They sneak in and eat it from the inside out, like termites, until the world just collapses in on itself and disappears."

"You're not serious." Smith looked like he was mentally backpedalling.

"It's already happened to hundreds of worlds." Leon went on. "Thousands of people have died or had their hearts taken by these things. And unless this animosity and hatred between your two peoples simmers down, it's going to happen here too."

Smith blanched at the idea, "That might not be possible."

Leon growled slightly.

Smith lifted his hands, "You saw Radcliffe, what he's like. And the natives here are justifiably unhappy that we're here. Look what we've done to the place." He gestured to the hacked off tree trunks and random holes that plagued the once grassy and lush landscape. "The Indians want war just as much as the rest of my men do. We've tried to stop it, but—"

"We?" Walker interjected.

Smith paused, "I've met one of them."

"The Indians, you mean." Leon clarified.

Smith nodded, "She told me that there was no gold. I had to explain to her what gold even was. She doesn't want anybody to get hurt any more than I do, but once the two sides decided they wanted to fight…nothing can stop them."

Walker blinked, "But you've made an alliance with a native. The two of you could provide a medium through which your two peoples may communicate amiably."

Leon eyed Smith. This was a new development: one that he had suspected for a while, but now this was full confirmation. "Pocahontas?"

Smith looked sharply at Leon. Walker looked confused.

"Is 'she' called Pocahontas? The chief's daughter?" Leon reiterated.

"How do you know—"

"I met her when we contacted the natives." He answered. "What's your excuse?"

Smith lifted his shoulders, "I…was just off on my own, scouting the terrain. She followed me; it was the first few weeks we were here. Her people didn't know much about us, or we them." He rubbed his neck, "I…couldn't shoot her. We started talking and…I realized that I may have been wrong all these years in my way of thinking." He looked to Leon and Walker. "They aren't savages." He glanced around the massacred forest, "And I can't blame the Indians for thinking WE're the savages."

"She changed your mind." Walker pointed out. "That's something. If one can change, they all can change."

That was more optimistic than Leon could stretch at the moment. Besides, Smith's words were bouncing around in his head. As much as it bothered him to admit, he recognized that shift in the man's manners. He cared about the chief's daughter, more than just as a fellow human being, or even as a friend might.

And the way things were going, that was only going to breed disaster.

"Keep holding your men at bay." Leon remarked, cutting back into the conversation. "Keep talking to Pocahontas. Her people seem a little more reasonable than yours at the moment. We're on lukewarm terms with the Indians; we'll try talking to them to."

"I don't think I could hold Radcliffe back for long." Smith replied. "You saw him. He's got a way of getting into the men's heads, convincing them that this battle is the only way to end this madness."

"Then get creative." Leon said, picking up his laptop and preparing to leave the area. "If things cool off between you guys and the Indians, then the Heartless activity should cool off too…Or at least it won't get worse. Then we can all maybe think about this properly."

"We may not have that kind of time." Walker commented.

Smith ran a hand through his hair, "I'll see what I can do."

As they parted, Leon could tell Walker wasn't satisfied by the conversation just by his body language. But Leon was too drained to prompt him. If things kept snowballing out of control and this campaign couldn't contain it, then the Alliance was going to have to intervene, possibly invade, just to maintain the peace and kept the Heartless from tearing the place apart.

That was a media shitstorm waiting to happen. Half of the Alliance was in favor of invading and fixing the problem by force. The other half strongly opposed that kind of overthrow and argued that the inhabitants should fix things themselves. Neither was completely right nor wrong, but the gray area was proving to be complex.

Upon returning to the Allied camp, Walker went off to…do whatever Walker did, and Leon ducked into one of the ships to try and get some privacy. Unfortunately, said privacy was shattered because Major Simon was sitting in the ship, nursing a bloody nose.

"Was there another attack?" Leon asked, his tone conveying his displeasure at not being alone here.

Honestly, was it too much to ask to have one damn hour alone so he could try to get in touch with Tifa? It had been over a month, and he was about to lose it. Tifa Withdrawal was the worst kind of affliction, and since it didn't appear like she was going to make first contact, Leon figured he would just have to take it into his own hands. The image of her standing in the hangar, hair whipping around and her face more open than it had been in weeks…It was haunting him.

"Yeah, and its name was Valerie." Simon mumbled thickly.

Leon quirked an eyebrow. Simon took that as a prompt.

"I didn't even do anything. I offered to help her carry the ammo to the other tent, and she punched me in the face! Told me she was a…'freaking'…woman who could…'freaking'…handle her…'darn'…self. Then she called me something nasty and walked off." Simon moaned.

Leon sighed and turned to leave the ship. Maybe his own tent would just have to do. Being pestered by his squad was better than listening to Simon complain. Simon looked woeful, but didn't stop him. So Leon made his hasty way out of there.

Escaping, Leon walked back to his tent, passing Banks, who had painted a big purple stick figure with a goofy face on an old crate and was using it as…'freaking'…target practice.


	15. Release

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are Duke and the other side characters that floated in. Some subplot snuck in here too. It couldn't be helped. Enjoy!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Fifteen: Release**

"So, the settlers are blaming the Indians for the Heartless attacks. The Indians are blaming the settlers for bringing the Heartless here. Neither side likes us very much. And you're suggesting that these two lovebirds Pocahontas and Smith are gonna heal this mess through truth and love?" Major Banks said, boots propped up on the makeshift table in the Allied camp.

Major Simon scratched his chin. "They're not lovebirds. They just don't want to kill each other like their peoples do."

"Five weeks here and I want to kill you." Banks shrugged. "For what it's worth."

Leon tried to drown them out as he pored over his laptop. Over the past week, things had been relatively quiet on MX9. 'Relatively' being the operative word. Heartless still attacked and the two opposing parties living on the world still bitched about it, but for the most part, Leon and his soldiers had been able to focus more on finding the nest from where the Heartless were originating.

While Banks and Simon were supposed to be going over the map of the world to black out the areas that they had already searched, Walker had been assigned to rendezvous with Pocahontas and Smith, and Leon was trying to get up to date with the goings-on in Radiant Garden.

From the small mountain of e-mails and updates that he had gone through so far, all that had happened since the Campaign departed Radiant Garden was the upcoming parade that Aerith was planning, and a few small bills that the representatives were trying to pass through the Council.

New E-mail from Graham Nestor; Subject: Redesigning Council Building Parking.

He clicked 'delete without reading'.

New E-mail from Tabaeus McCallister; Subject: Return from Leave of Absence.

He scrolled through the body of message. It was a brief detailing of how Private McCallister would be returning to Radiant Garden in two weeks and then to active duty the week after that.

New E-mail from Yuffie Kisaragi; Subject: Duke.

With a smirk, he opened it and glanced through it. Apparently Duke had eaten Yuffie's cell phone. Not chewed on it. Not buried it somewhere. Actually eaten it.

New E-mail from Rinoa Heartilly; Subject: Video Download.

Curiosity spiked. He clicked on the message and downloaded the video file.

Static blasted through the speakers as the screen loaded the video. Both Simon and Banks glanced over and Leon just plugged headphones into the outlet, popping the buds into his ears. The two majors got back to…whatever they were talking about. Leon adjusted the volume level as the video started up, revealing Rinoa, sitting in the kitchen at Merlin's house.

"Hi, Squ—Leon. Sorry, I'm still getting used to that." She pushed her dark hair out of her eyes, grinning ear to ear, but looking nervous. "I hope everything is going well with you and the others on the mission…I just thought it'd be a good idea to just…give you an…update on what all is going on here back home…yeah." She chirped.

Rinoa prattled on about things like the parade, and Duke, and Radiant Garden in general, and Tifa, and then back to the parade. Leon tried to listen, but ended up only half paying attention to the audio. His focus drifted to Merlin's kitchen and how much he'd rather be there at the moment than in the dank camp on MX9 with a bunch of hyperactive soldiers and listening to Banks' foul mouth every day.

He had never been one to suffer homesickness. He was frequently away on missions and other matters. But never for quite this long. So he found himself almost missing the smoky atmosphere of Merlin's house, Duke's routine barking every morning at the same bird, and Tifa cursing as she ruined yet another attempt at cooking.

"Everybody has been really nice. I was worried that it would be weird…I mean…but it's not…Not really. It's getting better actually." Rinoa was saying.

That was comforting, Leon glanced over the screen at Simon and Banks, who had put aside their argument and were actively looking over the map grids now.

"So…anyway, I know you're busy, but…just thought I'd let you know what all's been going on back home…Stay safe, and—" Rinoa cut off abruptly and then just as chirpy as ever, said. "Oh, hi, Tifa. Wow, what happened to you?"

Leon's eyes snapped back to his laptop screen.

Sure enough, Tifa had entered the kitchen…covered in dirt and Heartless guts. Most of her hair had been slapped to one side and plastered there by mud. A spectacular bruise was rising on her jaw. She looked like a lagoon-creature. A small smile threatened to overpower Leon's mouth and he pursed his lips hard to stop it.

"What is that?" Tifa asked, tilting her head.

"I'm making a video message." Rinoa explained. "I'm going to record a message, download it to the computer, and e-mail it to Squ—Leon on MX9. I can talk faster than I type, so I figured this would be better than writing." She chirped.

Tifa looked from the camera, to Rinoa, and back to the camera, cheeks reddening. "Oh."

Rinoa paused. "Are you okay? I mean…you don't mind, do you?" She fidgeted.

Tifa lifted a hand, "No, it's fine…I just…didn't think—"

Rinoa abruptly stood, blocking the camera's sight. Leon squinted slightly as the video swished down to see the floor, then the wall, before swinging back to focus completely on Tifa.

"You want to say something?" Rinoa said. "It's still recording."

Tifa paused for an adorably awkward moment, one arm knocking against her side in that habitual way that it did when she was wrong-footed. "Er—" She looked at the camera, at Leon. "Uh…hi." She gave a little wave at the camera.

Leon sat forward in his seat, elbows on his knees, watching her eyes flicker from the camera, to where Rinoa's face was off-screen.

"Oh…you can do better than that." Rinoa chided with a giggle. "It's almost been a whole month. He's gotta be going stir crazy in that forest fighting Heartless."

This message must have been sent over a week ago, since the Campaign had been over here for over a month at this point. Guilt panged in his chest at this realization. This was the first communication attempt between himself and either Rinoa or Tifa. Well, Tifa hadn't exactly been trying to contact him either…

But the whole awkwardness of how they had left things dissipated as he saw her now on the screen.

"Um…hey," She started. "Things are going fine here…but I guess Rinoa already told you that…Duke is fine…I'm—" She squinted one eye. "—fine."

"No, you're not." Leon murmured to his screen teasingly.

"So…hurry back and…I'll see you." She waved again before glancing to Rinoa again.

For a moment, it looked like that was all she was going to say, and Leon frowned as the camera jostled slightly. But then Tifa exhaled and looked back at the camera.

"I miss you, you idiot. So hurry up and beat those Heartless so you can come back home to me." She said sternly.

There's my girl, Leon smirked as Tifa straightened, looking to Rinoa. The camera drifted to her hip as Rinoa was distracted.

"Now, I'm going to take a shower, because I look like I crawled out of a grave." Tifa was saying.

There was a pause, and then Tifa leaned back toward the camera, winked, and left the kitchen. The camera jostled again, aimed at the floor.

"—Tifa—" Rinoa said, but the video went to fuzz and stopped.

Exiting out of the file, Leon sat back in his seat, tugging off the headphones and setting them aside. It felt like a weight had been lifted. That heaviness that he had been feeling since watching Tifa fade to a dot in the Radiant Garden Hangar eased slightly.

God, he missed her.

And this Campaign was only half over.

He should respond.

Leon had just lifted his hands to the keyboard, not sure what he was going to reply with, when Lieutenant Walker came running back into the camp.

Major Simon intercepted the lieutenant, talking quickly to the older man before spinning to face Leon. "Commander Leonhart!" He bellowed.

Leon looked up…the kid had all the subtlety of a limo at a dairy farm.

"What is it?" He closed his computer and stood.

"Something's happened!" Simon exclaimed.

"Yeah, no shit, dumbfuck." Banks stood. "Like your screaming didn't let us all know."

Leon moved over to meet Simon and Walker, who was catching his breath. "What? Did you rendezvous with Pocahontas and—"

"Kokoum's dead." Walker announced.

"Who?" Banks prompted.

"Indian with the bear claws on his chest." Leon informed. "How is that our problem?"

"One of the settlers shot him." Walker went on. "I was about to meet Smith and Pocahontas, but Kokoum beat me there."

"Why was he there in the first place?" Leon made a fist at his side.

"I don't know, but he saw Pocahontas and Smith being…intimate…and he just went ballistic and attacked!" Walker lifted his hands.

"Ha!" Banks pointed at Simon. "Told you."

Simon waved her off, looking to Walker. "And Smith shot him?"

Walker shook his head, "No, apparently Radcliffe had one of his men tail Smith. When Kokoum attacked Smith, the guy shot him down."

"But the settler didn't shoot Pocahontas?" Simon asked for clarification.

"No, he didn't seem interested in harming her. But then the Indians came and the guy took off. They abducted Smith and dragged him back to their camp." Walker explained.

"They think he killed their quarterback." Banks folded her arms, looking to Leon.

Leon frowned. So much for the temporary truce between the Indians and settlers. "What else happened?"

"What else needs to happen?" Walker narrowed his eyes. "This means war."

Leon ran a hand over his face. Of all the things that could have made this situation worse, this was it. At least before now, the two parties had tolerated each other. Now both sides had to be bloodthirsty. One side's man was dead. The other side's man had been kidnapped. Heartless or no Heartless, this was the tipping point.

The time for talking was over.

"Banks." He snapped.

"Yeah?" She glanced over, saw his expression, and straightened to attention. "Sir?"

"Get the squads together and ready the weapons." He ordered. "I want everybody ready to move out by sunrise."

"Fuck yeah." Major Banks hopped off to carry out the orders.

"Simon." Leon looked to the other major.

"Yes, sir?" The man replied.

"Scout the Indian camp with a small group. Make sure Smith is still alive. Send another small group to see what the settlers are doing. Neither group is to be seen or heard. Pure recon." Leon rattled off.

"Yes, sir." Simon darted off in the opposite direction of Banks.

Leon looked to Walker, who folded his arms. Gesturing that he follow, Leon moved toward the station headquarters that had been set up in the middle of the camp. The lieutenant followed contemplatively.

"What are the odds that these two sides can be convinced not to bleed each other dry?" Leon asked as soon as the door closed after Walker.

Walker ran a hand up his neck. "I'll be honest here. Not good."

"What would it take?" Leon prompted.

"From what I've seen, probably a complete uprising by the Heartless…who would in turn bleed them all dry instead." Walker remarked flatly.

Leon frowned. "Not much better."

"We have the manpower and the firepower to keep them apart by force." The lieutenant offered.

Leon shook his head. "No. Once two sides decide to fight, there's no real way to keep them apart. Besides, this isn't just a feud anymore. Blood has been spilled. Emotions are involved. Everything gets messy when emotions are involved." He looked over to the man. "Where did Pocahontas go afterward?"

"Um," Walker frowned, "The Indians took Smith away. Then they carried Kokoum away. After that…Pocahontas just disappeared."

"We need to find her." Leon made a fist, looking at the logistics that had been plastered all over the wall. "She was able to convince Smith. She might be able to convince—"

"Yeah, but Smith was reasonable." Walker commented. "Radcliffe doesn't seem like the type to soften up just because of a pretty girl."

Leon chewed the side of his lip and straightened, "All right. We'll ready the squads. Once Simon and his men return with information, we'll have an idea of what the Indians and the settlers are going to do. Then we'll move out."

"And the Heartless?"

"Shit." Leon pinched the skin between his eyes.

He had forgotten all about the Heartless. Dammit, and that's why the Alliance had intervened on this world in the first place! Not to get involved with this gold rush crusade, but to get rid of the Heartless.

Lightning flashed outside.

"All right." Leon composed himself. "Continue the routine patrols. We'll keep raiding the nests. We keep searching for the origin point where the Heartless are coming from. This changes nothing in that regard. We're still here to eliminate them first and foremost."

"In order to keep the inhabitants here alive." Walker said quietly.

"Yeah, if those idiots would just let us try to keep them alive." Leon snapped, marching back out of the tent as the thunder rumbled overhead.

**..:-X-:..**

Duke barked as the floats moved down the street. Tifa watched the dog romp back and forth from where she sat on the front steps of the Radiant Garden Hotel. Lights and colors had been strewn across the town, painting a bright and cheerful pathway for the parade to follow.

Kids screamed as they chased down the candy being thrown from each of the floats. Tifa had opted not to ride on any of the floats. She had been feeling under the weather most of the previous week, and the idea of riding a trailer as it stopped and went, stopped and went, stopped and went for over 10 blocks made her stomach turn.

Aerith had really outdone herself this time. Radiant Garden looked truly alive. The official opening of the new residential district had been a huge success. A huge crowd had come out to for the Open House. Since the house that she and Leon had bought was practically fully moved-into at that point, Tifa had not put up much of a fight when Aerith asked if it would be okay if the house was part of the Open House.

Another float drove by, made entirely of chocolate. Streams of the stuff were already oozing down from the sculptures due to the thick summer weather, but in the middle of the float was Yuffie. She had been the only one to volunteer to man that particular float, and she stood tall and proud in the center of it, striking numerous ninja poses as it drove by.

Tifa smiled at her as the younger girl waved at her. She peeled the wrapper farther down on the snack that she had been munching on for the past hour: a log of bologna. She normally didn't like bologna, but something about today had just made her crave it. She blamed the stress.

It had taken days of incessant pleading, whining, tantrums, and one well placed water balloon throw for Yuffie to get her way. However, no one else had wanted to work on the 'disaster float'—as others had begun calling it—and no one had wanted to be on the float during the parade. So the fact that Yuffie had turned her hairbrained idea into a fully realized piece of the parade was impressive.

"She actually made a chocolate float." Jake Alms said, sitting next to her.

"Ack!" Tifa choked on bologna and nearly toppled from her seat down the stairs. "How long have you been sitting there?"

Jake looked thoughtful for a moment. "About five minutes."

Getting her heart rate back under control, Tifa glared at him. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, honestly, you looked a little pathetic, sitting here by yourself, eating your…bologna log." He lifted an eyebrow at her choice of snack. "So I thought I'd join you."

"Your date ditched you early, did she?" Tifa asked, deadpan.

"She couldn't handle all'a this." Jake gestured to himself. "Enjoying the parade?"

"Something like that." Tifa took another chomp out of the log. "And I do not look pathetic."

"A LOG of BOLOGNA." Jake enunciated. "What's eating you, that you're eating that?"

Something about talking to Jake just made her lose her appetite sometimes. Grimacing, Tifa swallowed her last bite and didn't go for another one. Wordlessly, she offered it to him. Jake looked from her, to the log, and back to her, before shrugging and taking the offering.

"I'm just not feeling parade-y." She answered.

Jake snickering, "It's probably because you're pregnant."

Tifa facepalmed. "What is it with you and assuming that I'm pregnant?"

Jake faced her. "I've been with a lot of women. I mean…a LOT of women…" he chuckled.

"Point. Find it. Quickly." She said flatly.

"So I can tell when a woman is being all…hormonal and stuff." He said. "For the past few weeks, you've been depressed, irritable, you were sick last week…now this." He lifted the bologna log. "Bizarre craving?"

"Stress eating." Tifa stood, dusting herself off. "I was sick last week with a cold. I've been irritable because I miss Leon and Rinoa is everywhere. And I haven't been depressed. You're just way too happy about everything."

"And why shouldn't I be happy?" Jake beamed.

Tifa pouted her lips out and folded her arms. "When was the last time you really tried to date a woman?"

"Tonight." Jake's grin stayed in place.

"No, no, not just hit on a girl like a dog to a piece of meat. Really and honestly asked a woman out for a real date?" Tifa pried.

Jake faltered slightly, but recovered quickly. "I asked Rinoa out."

"She said you didn't."

"She's shy."

"Rinoa Heartilly is a lot of things." Tifa regarded her slyly. "Shy isn't one of them."

Jake fidgeted and averted his eyes.

"It's McCallister, right?" Tifa ventured a guess. "You miss her."

"Bah…what? Who?" Jake folded his arms defensively. "What—what crazy—You're just trying to change the subject because you're pregnant."

"You're changing the subject because you're falling in love with Tabaeus McCallister."

"I am not!"

"Then why are you turning red?"

"Because maybe I'm allergic to bologna!" Jake snapped.

"Then stop eating it, you nimrod." Tifa took a few steps away from him. "And ask McCallister out already."

"Maybe I don't want to." He folded his arms defensively.

Tifa sighed, "Fine. Suit yourself." She turned and walked away from him. "Duke, come."

The golden retriever yipped and bounced over to her side.

Jake was a moron. Tifa started back to the apartment. Pregnant. That was absolutely ridiculous. All of those 'symptoms' that Jake rattled off could be easily explained by circumstantial evidence. It was impossible. She and Leon always been very careful about that kind of thing—

Except for that afternoon in the study room before he left for the Campaign…

-Okay, so it wasn't IMPOSSIBLE, but it was still very, very, very unlikely.

And yet she still ended up stopping by the pharmacy on the way home.

Back in her apartment, an hour later, she paced across the tiny bathroom, feeling antsy and unable to stop biting her fingernails. The box that the pregnancy test had come in said to wait five minutes before checking the result. For the next five minutes, the world beyond this bathroom didn't exist. Nothing else mattered. Except that little stick.

She couldn't be pregnant. How many monkeywrenches was this month going to throw at her? First Hades, then Rinoa, then Leon leaving the world, now this?

What if she was pregnant? She stopped pacing.

That would be huge. Terrifying and complicated and…huge. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her reflection looked back, slim, muscled, and fit. She couldn't even imagine…She and Leon had never talked about such things. It wasn't a taboo subject or anything…It simply hadn't come up. There had been no reason for it to come up. The two of them had been happy where they were in their relationship…sans the whole Hades and Rinoa thing.

Things were still really complex and uncertain in the Alliance. War was still going on. The Heartless were still around. The conversation deciding the move in together and share a house together had been exhausting enough…but a baby?

Did she want a baby?

Oh, how absurd.

She had babysat and been around children long enough to know that she adored kids and she had the confidence that she could take good care of her own. She had no doubt that Leon would be an amazing father…Strange that she had never thought about it before.

But now she was thinking about it.

She had urinated on the little stick and everything.

The image of herself, Leon, a baby, Duke, a house, a front yard, and…and a crib of all things…crossed her mind, and she found herself paralyzed by it. Was she being ridiculous?

The timer on her phone beeped and she froze.

Moment of truth.

Swallowing, she stepped over to where she had placed the testing stick in the sink. She drew a long breath and turned away from it, facing the wall.

Damn you, Jake Alms, for putting this idea in my head.

She closed her eyes briefly.

Okay, okay, okay…Come on, Tifa…Pull it together. Get your mind straight before you look at that thing. She exhaled again. Regardless of the result, she was in love with Leon. She never wanted to be with anyone else but Leon. She wanted to have kids someday. She wanted to…She wanted to have Leon's kids someday.

The confession made her belly flutter.

"Okay…okay…" She fidgeted and turned back around before she could continue to talk herself out of it, looking down at the test in the sink.

'Not pregnant'.

She had gotten one of those tests that didn't mess with the plus sign, minus sign crap; just told the test-taker straight up, pregnant or not pregnant.

She wasn't pregnant.

Tifa exhaled in a rush, sinking to sit on the edge of the bath tub. From her curled up spot in the living room, Duke lifted her head, looking at her.

"I'm not pregnant." Tifa said aloud.

The canine looked unimpressed and put her head back on her paws, resuming her nap.

"Not pregnant." Tifa repeated, picking up the test. "Well…of course I'm not pregnant. I could have told you that. Stupid…Jake. I knew I wasn't pregnant. Now I really know I'm not…pregnant."

Unexpectedly, emotion clogged her throat and she blinked a few times.

Rolling her shoulders, she dropped the stick into the trash can, along with the packaging it came in. She felt suddenly exhausted. This evening had been far much more draining than she had anticipated. Standing, she splashed water on her face and left the bathroom.

Her cell phone rang. She ignored it and let it go to voicemail. She was not in the mood to talk to anybody. She had just ridden the rollercoaster of 'what if' and she did not want to go for another round.

Her mind still reeling, Tifa left her bedroom and ended up standing in the middle of the living room, staring at the chess board on the coffee table.

This was…one less thing to worry about, really. Yeah. A baby would have completely uprooted everything. She could handle the madness that came with Rinoa and her deal with Hades. She and Leon would always work things out…but a baby? Right now? Gah, that would have been…something.

Flustered, she reached over and moved her remaining white knight to take one of his black pawns.

What did it matter anyway? There was no sense in debating about it now. She didn't have to worry about it right now. It wasn't happening. End of thought bubble.

But it wasn't the end of the thought bubble, was it? No, the past hour had just opened an entirely new box of 'what if's and 'maybe's. Now she had to deal with that.

Avoiding her room, she retreated to Leon's room, untouched for the past month. She had panicked and freaked out in her own room enough. Something about Leon's bedroom helped her calm down. Like Leon himself.

Tifa let out a low sigh and unzipped her black vest, slipping out of it and stepping out of her boots. Dispensing with the blouse and pants that she had worn all day, Tifa pulled back the blanket on the bed and crawled under it.

The sheets smelled like him and she melted into the fabric.

Fatigue crashed over her and she turned her brain off.

She hadn't gotten a real good night's sleep in weeks.

Music from the block party on the street outside drifted up against the window. The rest of Radiant Garden was partying and having a good time. She wanted to have a good time. She wanted to party and dance and carry on like she didn't have a care in the world.

But she did have a care in the world.

And it wasn't the 'oh boo hoo I miss my boyfriend' kind of mess that she figured everyone thought she was suffering from. What Aerith thought she was suffering from. What Rinoa thought she was suffering from. Hell, what Agnes from the shoe store thought she was suffering from.

Yes, she missed Leon terribly. She also missed the fact that she couldn't talk to anybody else about this without seeing pity on others' faces, Aerith in particular. And Cloud…He had opened up more in the past two months than he had in the past ten years to her, but she still didn't feel comfortable talking to him about this.

Soon, Leon would be home.

Then they would move on with their lives, put all of this behind them, and everything would be fine.

Maybe because she and Leon were just that awesome.

Or maybe that's just what love was: the ability to deal with the curve balls and survive.

Finding some peace with that thought, Tifa closed her eyes and burrowed into the pillow.

Duke's paws pattered across the wooden floor and with a short jump, the dog's weight landed on the mattress by Tifa's feet. Climbing over the blankets, the dog maneuvered over to the head of the bed where Tifa was curled up.

Tifa peaked open one eye as the dog pawed at the sheets. Duke slid down into a curled up position beside Tifa. She smiled and lifted a hand, rubbing her knuckle under the dog's jaw.

Duke let out a wide yawn, her tongue lolling out with the effort. That done, she laid her head back down.

"We're both a mess, aren't we, girl?" Tifa prompted, settling down into the pillow.

Duke's tail wagged twice at her voice.

Party music continued to drift up from the street, and Tifa found it soothing as she closed her eyes again, and really slept for the first time in a month.

**..:-X-:..**

**A/N:** Choppy chapter is choppy.

I'm hoping to get back into regularly updating this story, now that the semester is calming down. Thanks to my readers who have stuck with me so far!

Feedback is always welcome and appreciated!


	16. Reclaim

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are Duke and the random soldier characters that snuck in here. This chapter was written in disjointed parts and then sort of sewn together, so I hope it's cohesive and not too awkward. Though awkward might have worked in this chapter, haha. Constructive criticism is always welcome and appreciated!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Sixteen: Reclaim**

The streets of the new Residential District were congested. After months of work and hundreds of thousands of man-hours, the district had been completed and was ready to be moved into. It was a strange sight after so much time that Tifa had spent alone in the new district, alone or just with Leon in the new house, to see so many people.

Neighbors. They had neighbors now.

Tifa grinned to herself at the sound of some children laughing wildly as Duke chased them. Casual chatter drifted up through the open front door, where she could just see grass beginning to poke through the seed that had been lain down. After so much war and unpredictability and uncertainty and homelessness, this surreal sense of normalcy felt…nice.

"Leon is not going to like this."

Tifa rolled her eyes to look over at Cloud, who was standing in the furnished living room with an amused look on his face. He quirked an eyebrow at the furniture itself.

"Because you know what Leon thinks." She retorted with a smirk.

"I know what YOU think." He folded his arms. "This—" He nodded to the matching furniture. "—is not furniture."

"Ignore him." Aerith piped in from the kitchen.

"I usually do." Tifa replied, throwing a mischievous look in his direction.

Cloud grimaced and stepped around the sectional couch. "Honestly, where did you even find this…"

"I special ordered it a month ago." She said. "Y'know, before Leon murdered the couch."

Aerith sauntered into the living room, Duke on her heels. "And I'm not defending what he did there, but you know how much Leon hated THAT couch…so why would you buy an entire matching set?"

"Life is short." Tifa shrugged.

Cloud gave a playful roll of the eyes and walked outside. Aerith shook her head after him, but Tifa just sighed and looked at her.

"He seems like he's lightening up a little." Tifa wondered aloud.

"Yeah…and you seem more…relaxed." Aerith chirped.

Tifa tilted her head thoughtfully. "I am."

"Good." Aerith bobbed her head. "Because…I've been meaning to talk to you about something."

"That never preempts anything good." Tifa said.

Taking a sip from her lemonade, she mentally ran through a list of what this could be about: things with Leon, things with Rinoa, the whole Hades mess…

"I'm trying to figure out if Cloud and I are dating or not."Aerith asked abruptly.

Tifa choked on her lemonade, lifting a hand to her mouth. "Buh—what?"

Aerith's face was as pink as her dress and she folded her arms defensively.

"How can you not know?" Tifa asked, setting her drink aside and wiping her face.

"Oh please. You and Leon spent MONTHS playing 'are we or aren't we?', so don't act all shocked." Aerith pouted. "And you know Cloud, what he's like; it's hard to get a straight answer out of him."

Tifa had to agree with her there. "Um…okay…"

"I just…" Aerith looked flustered already, "I just want to know. To clarify. To make sure I know what's going on…so I can brace myself and be prepared if—"

"If he leaves again." Tifa finished quietly.

"And…And I know that things didn't work out between you two as friends or as…whatever you two were for a while there—"

"Crush." Tifa said, looking through the window where a neighbor had pinned Cloud into casual chit-chat with no escape routes. "I like to refer to it as a crush…instead of an embarrassing let-down that nearly ruined our friendship."

"It DID ruin your friendship." Aerith pointed out.

"Only for a few…months." Tifa conceded. "Then I got over it."

"Yeah, with Leon Therapy." Aerith quipped.

Tifa looked at her. Aerith closed her eyes and hung her head.

"I'm sorry. I'm just confused. I've never been in a relationship that I didn't understand before."

"You lived in close proximity to Leon for over ten years." Tifa blinked. "What do you call that?"

"See, that's the difference between Leon and Cloud. Leon makes sense. Twisted, angsty, sub-psychotic sense, but still sense!" Aerith straightened in her seat. "Cloud's just…completely out-there. He reacts so bizarrely to the most random things. You wouldn't believe what some of his triggers are."

"One of Leon's 'triggers' is anything with peanut butter in it." Tifa said flatly.

Aerith paused. "He's allergic to it?"

"He's addicted to it." Tifa clarified. "After our first fight, he ate a whole jar of the stuff while hiding out in the back of the jeep." She snorted. "I thought it was stereotypically the woman's role to turn to comfort food."

Aerith narrowed one eye, then shook her head and waved both hands. "That's beside the point. The point is that I don't know how to handle Cloud."

"You've been doing pretty good for the past three years." Tifa reassured.

"Only because I had to: you chewed him up and spat him out."

"Like a lioness on a zebra." Tifa tutted, trying out her lemonade again.

When Aerith just shot her a pitiful look, Tifa sighed and faced her.

"You and Cloud have had a little something-something going on for years. Believe me, it used to drive me insane." She confessed. "But you always work things out for one simple reason: he makes no sense, and you make too much sense."

Aerith's eyebrows knit together. "That's two reasons."

Tifa deadpanned and waved a hand. "Just think about it. Opposites attract right?"

"Right…When you and Leon got together, we had a betting pool on how long it would last." Aerith commented.

Tifa balked.

Aerith looked at her. "Cid started it. Yuffie joined in. Then it just kinda…grew from there."

Tifa shook her head. "Anyway, opposites. You and Cloud. You're friendly, loyal to your friends, and are always very supportive. Cloud is awkward, flighty, and prefers to speak in grunt."

"That's not fair." Aerith straightened, "He's always been a great friend to you…even when he was ignoring you…He was trying to protect you from Sephiroth."

Tifa nodded, "Sure, right, yeah. But back to opposites…You like pink. Cloud—"

"There was that incident with the purple dress." Aerith prompted.

Tifa paused, and the two women looked at each other. Then, together, they looked through the window again to see Cloud still talking to the chatty neighbor, though his eyes were wildly looking for a way out. Both women laughed a little at the memory.

"Okay, so maybe the 'opposites attract' theory doesn't apply to you guys one hundred percent. But there's still the Sense Theory: being that he's a little short on it and you have it in surplus." She shrugged.

There was a knock on the door.

"Oh, that sounds like the first visitor to the new house!" Tifa hopped to her feet.

Aerith threw her hands up. "What are me and Cloud?"

"You're friends. You don't count." Tifa headed over to the door.

"Oh. Great. Thanks." Aerith replied dryly.

Tifa opened the door to hear Cloud yell across the lawn: "Rinoa! It's been forever! You look like you could use some help!"

Opening the door the rest of the way, Tifa saw Rinoa with her knuckles still raised to knock on the door. She was looking back at Cloud in bewilderment, where he was hastily excusing himself from conversation with the neighbor to dart to Rinoa's aid.

"Um…it's two bags." Rinoa said. "I think I can manag—"

"Nonsense." Cloud waved her off emphatically, practically snatching one of the bags from her, dropping his voice. "Just go with it. He keeps trying to talk to me about sports." He whispered desperately.

Tifa snickered and moved aside, "Hi, Rinoa."

"Hi," Rinoa was shuffled into the house by a jumpy Cloud. "Sorry to just drop in like this, but you mentioned that you were moving into the house, so I thought I'd bring some house-warming things by."

"Th-thanks." Tifa found herself pleasantly surprised.

Looking out the door, she waved to the neighbor, who looked unaffected by Cloud's sudden departure. He waved back with a smile and tottered off to the next house for another round of conversation over the picket fence. Tifa closed the door and went back toward the living room.

Aerith had stood upon Rinoa's entrance. "Hello, Rinoa."

"Hi, Aerith. Whoa, um, thanks, Cloud." Rinoa still looked startled as Cloud took the bags from her, determined to fulfill his promise to help, even if the chatty neighbor wasn't watching.

Amused, Tifa looked to Rinoa. "Did you see Cid, Merlin, or Yuffie on your way here?"

Rinoa squeaked as Duke greeted her by jumping up on her. Tifa didn't call off the dog. "Um, Merlin is doing research, and mentioned something about Cid heading to Traverse Town. Yuffie…I haven't seen." She fought off Duke and looked around. "Wow, this place looks great."

"Thanks." Tifa chirped, exchanging a look with Aerith, who became Duke's new target.

"So, Tifa tells me," Aerith tore her eyes from Tifa to look at Rinoa. "that you're interested in their old apartment?"

"Yeah," Rinoa looked around the dining room. "This new district is gorgeous, but I don't need a full sized house. And apartments are really hard to come by, what with the military based here and all."

"You could always room with McCallister." Tifa joked.

"Who?" Rinoa turned.

"One of Leon's interns. She's kinda…different. Like a human Labrador, the way she worships Leon." Aerith tutted.

"WAS one of Leon's interns." Tifa corrected. "Nestor had her transferred to Cid's department. Leon nearly had an aneurism over it." She tilted her head, "But she's still a human Labrador."

"Oh…Okay, let me see if I get it all now." Rinoa lifted a hand. "Tifa and Leon are together. Cid is on-again-off-again with some bartender lady in Traverse Town. Yuffie and Merlin are the pranksters. You two are best friends. Leon and Cloud don't get along. And Cloud—" She glanced over to where Cloud was pretending to open a jar of sauce while peering through the curtains for any more 'chit-chat' threats. "—is insane?"

Tifa shrugged, "Close enough."

Rinoa looked to Aerith, "And how long have you two been dating?"

Aerith sputtered. "We—"

"Three months going on five years." Tifa answered for her.

Rinoa looked puzzled by that, but she didn't press it.

Tifa gave Aerith a smug look. "There. There's your answer."

Aerith huffed.

"Did I miss something?" Rinoa looked from one to the other.

"Tifa has ugly living room furniture." Aerith retorted to Tifa's smugness.

Tifa gave a mock-scandalous gasp. "Et tu, Brute?"

Duke barked and hopped up onto one of the couches. All of the furniture in the living room was the same color, upholstery, and design of the old couch that Tifa and Leon had had in their old apartment…before it met its untimely demise at the receiving end of Leon's bad mood.

Rinoa looked unsure how to proceed. "Oh…Um…I don't think it's—" She looked around at the pieces. "—ugly."

"Nope, it's horrendous." Cloud re-entered the conversation.

"Whose side are you on?" Tifa balked.

"Whichever side puts those salmon-colored furniture rejects out of sight." Cloud input.

"Well…you and Aerith are dating." Tifa shot back.

That made Cloud blink in speechless surprise.

Face as pink as her dress again, Aerith straightened, "Well that couch looks like one of your cooking attempts gone horribly, horribly wrong!"

"Ooh." Cloud jeered, lifting a hand. "Burn."

Aerith high-fived his raised hand and looked to Tifa triumphantly.

Rinoa lifted her hands to either side of her face. "Is this a fight or what have I gotten caught in here?"

Aerith and Tifa both chuckled. Aerith touched Rinoa's shoulder. "Welcome to the group. Check your dignity at the door."

Tifa watched Aerith steer Rinoa back to the dining room to get a drink, leaving her and Cloud alone in the living room.

"Seriously though." Cloud remarked after a beat passed. "This is not okay."

"Oh shut up." She elbowed him in the ribs with a grin.

Duke rolled around on one of the couches, looking over at them, tongue lolling.

"This is what you want, isn't it?" He prompted. "The house, the neighbors, the normal."

Tifa tilted her head thoughtfully. "Yeah, it is."

"Good." Cloud nodded. "I'm happy for you and Leon…and your ugly furniture."

Tifa smacked him across the back of the head and went to refill her lemonade.

**..:-X-:..**

The dawn broke across the world of MX9. With the brightening sky came the low, ominous sounds of drums. War drums.

After over a month of searching, recon, and frustration, the Allied Campaign stationed in Jamestown had finally located the Heart of the world, from which the Heartless were originating and which needed to be magically sealed to keep the Heartless from overrunning the world. After a month of trying to keep the Indians and the settlers from attacking each other, now each had formed an army, marching to meet each other at the impasse and destroy each other.

There had been no talking down either side. Blood had been shed, patience had been tested, and tolerance had run out. And despite the Alliance's reluctance to allow this quarrel to culminate in war, the Campaign had no choice but to leave the battle on the back burner and focus on protecting the heart of MX9 from the Heartless.

Black bodies took the shapes of wolves, bears, antlered deer, and malevolent trees, melting out of the dawn shadows and lurching at any living creature that moved. Walker had drawn up the plans: send a small force of soldiers directly to the cave where the heart was located and initiate the protective spells needed to form a magical wall around the cave, blocking it from Heartless until King Mickey or another Keybearer could be summoned to lock it properly. It was a bandaid solution, but Leon had to accept it given the circumstances.

The hatred between the Indians and the settlers had bred darker and stronger Heartless, and Leon found himself cursing loudly and creatively as the dark auras, flaming attacks, and pronged claws were thrown in his direction. He caught a few impressed looks from Banks thrown his way.

A Heartless mountain lion launched toward the west flank of Leon's squad. A quarter of his squad had been posted in the trees as snipers to take out the wolves and deer Heartless, leaving the larger animals for the ground soldiers' full focus. They had to be careful, however, as the trees themselves sometimes turned out to be Heartless posing as willows.

"Out!" The soldier in front of Leon dropped to his knee, freeing the empty clips from his guns while Leon leaned over his shoulder and provided cover fire.

"Fuckin' birds!" Banks barked.

Leon looked up to see what looked like purple vultures dive-bombing toward them. Gritting his teeth, he knocked his knee hard between the shoulder blades of the soldier in front of him, knocking him to his face in the grass as the Heartless swooped down, talons ready. The soldier took the hint and stayed down. Leon gripped the Gunblade with both hands, hooking one finger around the trigger mechanism.

"We got a whole damn flock!" Banks announced, dealing the deathblow to her own nemesis: the Heartless mountain lion.

Waiting until he could see the sunlight glint off the vulture's talons, Leon swung the Gunblade around, connecting the broadside of the blade with a feathery underbelly. As one of its talons knicked off his shoulder, he pulled the trigger. The vibration roared down the body of the blade, giving the weapon the kick it needed to slice through the rest of the bird.

The Heartless screamed and fell to a boiling purple mass on the ground. Leon sidestepped the carcass and lunged the blade forward into the belly of the bear Heartless that was facing the other direction. It howled and spun around, distracted enough by the pain for two more soldiers to come up with dual spiked ball-and-chains, slamming the weapons into the soft parts of the Heartless.

As the Heartless fell to its forelegs, Leon spotted a wolf Heartless locking its jaws around the forearm of own of his soldiers. It was too far to use the Gunblade, but the air was clear from him to the Heartless, so he lifted a hand.

"Fira."

The fireball charged forward in a flash of red from his palm, sizzling across the dry grass and colliding with the wolf's body. It yipped and was dislodged from the soldier, who momentarily collapsed from the pain and blood loss shock. Another soldier came to the fallen comrade's aid and the wolf turned on Leon.

The brush with the spell caught on the dry grass, which quickly began to spread to the entire clearing where they were fighting the Heartless. Fire spells had proven to be the strongest magic to work against the Heartless. Simon, being one of Merlin's interns, and Walker had gone with the squad to protect the heart itself. Their firepower would have been helpful at the moment, but then again, burning everything to the ground wasn't exactly helping.

"Aeroga." Private Emily Young popped up, waving both palms forward.

A small cyclone slung forward from her right side, slashing to the left across the spreading fire and choking it. The remnants of the flames licked at the front line of the Heartless before it flickered out. Looking past the front line as the smoke cleared, Leon saw two Heartless up ahead that…had no form.

The two beasts appeared to be pure shadow, just twin hulking masses that were lumbering toward them. Leon's eyes slightly widened and he tightened his grip on the Gunblade. If the Heartless had abandoned their attempt to mimic the life around them and were attacking in pure shadow form, then the battle between the Indians and the settlers was going worse than he had expected.

Without Keyblades, there was no way to fight pure shadow. His Gunblade might as well have been a wooden stick. Still, even if their weapons couldn't kill the Heartless, they could still destroy their bodies and send them back to the heart of the world, where hopefully Simon and the others would be sealing the cave soon. Otherwise, Leon and his soldiers were just delaying the inevitable.

The larger artillery had been posted and set up in a line, prepped for launching barrages of rockets, small missiles, and spatial bombs to blast the Heartless back en masse, and Leon found himself appreciating that tactic in that moment.

Turning to give the order, he only saw Major Banks pop up on one knee, a large weapon in her arms.

"Drop you asses!" She roared, lifting the rocket launcher to her shoulder.

Without thinking twice, Leon and a dozen other soldiers hit their stomachs on the grass. Three men on Banks' sides also came up with rocket launchers. All four of them fired, and the whistle of the attacks hissed over Leon's head. They beelined into the shadows and exploded in blue-white blasts. The heat of the explosions hissed across their bodies, but Leon sprang back up to his feet and spun around.

The two shadows were screeching and lurching in the throes of disintegration, falling back into a slight retreat. Leon exhaled slightly in relief, picking up the Gunblade and looking over to Banks, who shot him a wink.

"Shit yeah." She grunted, rocket launcher still in her arms.

"Fire attacks." He called over to her. "They'll buy us more time."

She nodded and moved to pass along the orders.

Leon glanced around the perimeter. The war drums had stopped in the distance as the sun rose, and it felt like the wind had changed slightly. Whatever it was, it wasn't—

One of the trees on his left moved suddenly, dislodging the sniper that had been perched on one of the branches. Thick, willowy vines snapped into animation, slashing out to grab at arms, legs, and torsos to rip from the ground. The sniper hit the ground with the snap of a broken leg, and as soon as Leon saw one of the aerial interns move to the soldier's side, he moved in the other direction.

He angled toward the edge of the forest, giving him a straight view of the mile that stood between their battle and the battle brewing between the Indians and the settlers. As he looked, he saw a splash of black hair billowing behind a running body. He squinted. Pocahontas. She was heading straight for the confrontation. If anybody could stop those two sides…

"God's speed." He muttered.

"Commander Leonhart!" One of the soldiers yelled.

He turned back and saw the Heartless moving back…almost like a full retreat. Alarmed, he hurried back to the main battle field.

"What is it?"

"Just got a report from Lieutenant Walker, sir." The soldier said, gesturing to the radio in his comrade's hands. "They found the heart and are trying to isolate it, but—"

"But what?" Leon growled.

"The Heartless have fallen into full retreat." The comrade said. "It appears that they're doubling back to wipe out the threat that the squad poses."

"Dammit." Leon looked toward the Heartless's retreating backs. "All right." He raised his voice. "If you can still fight, arm up and regroup. We're going to the cave to join with the defense squad."

"Sir, the Indians and settlers—"

"Can take care of themselves." Leon grabbed up a belt of ammunition and slung it around his neck. "Arm the ships—"

"The Gummis?" The soldier balked.

Leon shoved a handgun into his belt and slid another machete against his hip sheath. "Yes. Arm everything. We're wiping out these Heartless NOW. I'm not losing this world to the darkness."

About half of the soldier body started immediately following orders. The other half looked slightly dumbstruck at the idea of mobilizing everything for a final fight. Their paralysis was broken by Banks raising a fist.

"Damn straight! A'right, people, if you're gonna shit bricks, then at least have the decency to fuckin' throw 'em at the Heartless." She snapped, grabbing up her own weapons and heading over to Leon. "Ballsy move, but count me in."

"No." Leon replied. "You're going to stop the fight between the Indians and the settlers."

Banks balked. "You've gotta be shitting me. I need to kill some Heartless—"

"The Alliance NEEDS to stop this war." Leon cut her off. "Pocahontas is already heading that way to do what she can. So you need to do what you can to help her stop this. Only when the hatred stops will the Heartless become weak enough to defeat."

"Why ME? I'm all for girl power, but I'm not exactly a mother fucking motivational speaker here, Commander." She pointed out.

"I know. I'm going for shock value." Leon said flatly, but a smirk escaped.

Banks just stared at him. "Well, fuck you very much." She mumbled.

He nodded toward the field. "Go."

She glared hard, pursing her lips, but threw her rocket launcher to one of the passing soldiers. "Fine." She growled, turning and taking off for the field without another word.

As Banks went off in the other direction, Leon moved toward the front of the group moving out after the Heartless. This was going to get ugly fast. The fact of the matter was, the time for diplomatic talk and fluffy words had ended, and if there was one person in this campaign who was not about diplomatic talk and fluffy words, it was Major Banks. She would speak hard and she would sell it straight, and between either side nearly stroking out at the vulgar young woman's words, some truth might actually sink in through their thick skulls.

Or they would think she was insane or possessed by some…witch or demon or something...Either way, it would buy some time for the two sides to be distracted from hating each other and give Leon and the squads time to catch up to the Heartless and cut them off from their supply, lock down the heart of the world, and burn through some of the shadow creatures.

Leon took a canteen of fuel from the supply cart that was moving with them and slid the strap over his shoulder. The Heartless had melted back into the shadows, out of sight but far from out of mind. It would take Leon's troops roughly two hours to get to Simon and Walker and their squad. He glanced over to the rest of his soldiers, regrouping, re-arming, and following him through the forest.

So far, casualties had been minimal, but if the Heartless kept fighting like this, then the Allied soldiers would quickly become too exhausted to defend themselves. And Leon hated feeling defenseless. They could radio out to Radiant Garden or any neighboring Allied worlds for reinforcements, but that would require further damaging the impassable wall surrounding MX9. It had been damaged by the Campaign's entrance. More vessels moving through would probably shatter it. And in the world's current condition, the onslaught of Heartless from the outside would easily overpower MX9 and its inhabitants.

Things had moved much more quickly than the Alliance had anticipated here. The hatred boiling between the two parties had forced a conflict, prematurely detonated by Kokoum's death. As the soldiers were marching toward the Heart of Jamestown, the Indians and settlers were either negotiating a truce or killing each other…and he had sent Major Banks right into the thick of it. If it had been Private McCallister, he would have made the same call.

With things moving the way they were now, Leon gauged that the Campaign would be wrapped up within two weeks, if not less. More missions would have to be launched here to repair the damage and fight off the remaining Heartless…If his campaign even had the gusto left to finish this mission.

Absently, Leon took out his Alliance-issued phone. Needless to say, reception was not likely on this world, let alone calls off-world. But all of the senior ranking officers in the Alliance were granted high-tech phones that were equipped to make calls, texts, or e-mails to off-world sources in any environment. It was exasperating to go through the process of it, and the battery life was terrible, so Leon had always refrained from using it. Besides, he had never really had any reason to call, text, or e-mail someone in the middle of a mission.

However, as the squads marched toward the cave, Leon found himself staring at the screen. He had never responded to Rinoa's video e-mail. He hadn't had time and had had other matters battling for his attention. The heat from the thick summer climate of MX9 in addition to the hours fighting the Heartless had soaked all of the soldiers in sweat, and Leon was starting to get a headache on top of it all, since the vulture Heartless's talon had ricocheted off his shoulder and smacked the side of his head.

He clicked the power on the phone and found it still operational and charged. With a grunt, he slid one arm out of his jacket and switched the phone to his other hand, maneuvering completely out of the black leather jacket and tossing it onto one of the supply carts. The relief was small but critical.

Things were going to get very, very ugly as soon as the Heartless and the rest of the Allied squad hit the cave where the heart of MX9 was. So if he was going to respond at all to the message from Radiant Garden, he had better get it out of the way before they hit that point.

But with Heartless and civil war on the brain, he wasn't exactly in a mindset to be sending any kind of profound or meaningful message, even to Tifa. But she had never demanded any kind of romantic, emotional, or deep gestures from him. He wasn't that kind of person and she knew that. Besides, that made it all the more of a surprise for her when he did manage to pull off an action like that.

This was not one of those times.

With a grunt, he punched in the first thing that came to his mind when he thought of what to say to Tifa, to let her know that she was stuck in his head whether he liked it or not, and sent the text. Seeing the message sent, Leon pocketed the device and trudged on with the soldiers. It wasn't fancy or anything, but Tifa would understand it, so that would do for now.

_Black king to F5, takes white bishop. _


	17. Relapse

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are the OCs that popped up in here. An old familiar face returns in this chapter too. I tried out a different kind of style for Leon's part of this chapter. A few twists got entered in too. Enjoy!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Seventeen: Relapse**

Leon regained consciousness to the sound of gunfire, the smell of burning wood, and the feel of falling rain around him. Both how he had ended up in this condition and why he was momentarily paralyzed were too complicated for his muddled mind to figure out for the first few seconds of waking.

Then the pain returned.

_Leon and his soldiers had reached the cave where Major Simon and Lieutenant Walker had been defending the heart of the world of Jamestown. The Heartless had formed solid walls of darkness and flanked them from two sides. Simon and the other sorcerer soldiers were barely halfway through the protective enchantments that would seal the heart and make it untouchable by the hands of darkness._

"Push them back!" Major Banks' voice reached him. "Push them back to fucking Hell!"

Leon opened his eyes and tried to will his vision to focus through the haze of pain that was clawing through his spine and ballooning through his right leg. He was lying on his side, half of his face pressed into the wet, muddy grass at the base of a tree. Grimacing, he tilted his head out of the ground.

The canopies of the forest overhead were being swallowed in flames. Chunks of burning branches and wispy leaves, curling into blackened husks, were drifting down to the forest floor around him. He could hear the battle continuing around him, without him, while he was just lying here, unable to move. And the sidelines were unacceptable.

_Major Banks had returned in a full sprint, declaring that the Indians and the settlers had reached a ceasefire, a temporary truce, after that snake Radcliffe had shot Smith after aiming at Chief Powhatan. Pocahontas had coaxed them away from the ledge of murder. The ceasefire was not a peace, but they weren't gunning for each other's blood for the moment. Without the active, burning hatred of the two parties to feed off of, the Heartless had been cut off from their source of immediate power. The balance had shifted in favor of the Alliance._

Dragging himself back to lucidity, Leon found the Gunblade still in his grasp, and all five fingers still wrapped around the handle. He pushed up to his elbows and squinted across the clearing. He could see bodies fighting the large purple masses of Heartless. They were pushing the Heartless back, away from the cave, where he distinctly saw Simon breaking away from the main squad with two other soldiers and running in Leon's direction.

Leon lifted the Gunblade and reached back to brace himself on the large tree behind him. With his wits returning, he climbed up to his feet and started back toward the fight. He made it one step with his left leg, but as soon as his weight shifted to his right, it crumpled under him and he all but toppled back to the grass. A hoarse cry of pain was torn from him as the pain in his leg worsened. He twisted to assess the damage.

_In their desperation, the Heartless had merged their rough thousand smaller bodies into a rough 500 larger monsters. Stronger, with heavier armor and more dangerous weapons, the Heartless had thundered through the forest at the Allied soldiers in disproportionate forms. Grizzly bears the size of school buses, wolves the size of minivans, and stags as large as elephants. The Alliance was running out of momentum and running out of artillery._

_Fire was still the greatest magical weakness of the Heartless of MX9, and Leon had doused the length of the Gunblade in gasoline and lit it. The flaming sword had been able to cut through the creatures in half the number of swings that it had originally taken. But just as the Alliance discovered this advantage, and the trees had been accidentally lit as a by-product, it had begun to rain._

His right pant leg was in bloody tatters. Gasping for breath, Leon moved the material aside and cringed. Deep bite marks were cut to the bone around his right knee, slicing through the muscle of his lower thigh and splintering through the bone of his shin. Wolves' teeth, by the looks of the bite, but not by the sheer size. The pressure of the creature's jaws had shattered the bones and tendons in his knee. Every tiny movement he could feel the bones scraping across each other.

"Commander!" Simon skidded toward him with the two other soldiers.

Leon tore his eyes away from the mangled mess of his leg to look back at the three of them. Simon was ashen-faced, but he tore an Elixir from his belt and uncorked it as he dropped to his knees. The other two had their weapons drawn to defend against any nearby attackers.

"What's the report?" Leon growled out, unable to properly discern the status of the battle from where he was—or considering that he didn't know how long he had been unconscious.

Simon turned the bottle of healing liquid over Leon's leg, and bones and tendons immediately snapped back into place, stitching skin and muscle back together. One of the other two soldiers, one of Tifa's recruits named Kurt, glanced to him.

"We have the remaining Heartless surrounded, sir, but they still have plenty of juice left in them to fight." He informed. "Our soldiers are tired. They can't keep this up much longer."

Leon cursed and noted that the Elixir had finished its job. His knee still felt off, but it would have to do. Clamoring to his feet, he snatched up the Gunblade and faced the battle.

"Commander Leonhart—" Simon also scrambled up from his knees. "I don't think it healed properly—"

Leon waved him off. "It'll have to work until we defeat the remaining Heartless."

He started forward again, lifting his sword. Again, as soon as his weight moved from his left leg to his right, it folded under him and he hit the grass.

_The wolf Heartless that attacked him was as large as an elephant. Its head had been the size of Leon's torso. The squads had stuck to a tried-and-true formation and had been maintaining a tight perimeter around the cave where the Heart was. Yet the wolf Heartless had their own methods of attack, and one of them had managed to drive some individual soldiers from the main flank._

_Before Leon could lift the Gunblade, the wolf Heartless had met him head on, wrapped its jaws around his leg, and ripped him clear from the ground. Leon had managed to swing the Gunblade into the shoulders of the Heartless. The creature reared in pain and clenched its jaws tightly around his leg. In a rage, the Heartless slung Leon into the nearest tree._

_His head snapped back against the tree and he knew no more._

"Dammit." Leon rolled up on his left knee, stretching his right leg out.

It looked completely healed. No protruding bones or torn skin. He looked to Simon.

The major lifted his shoulders. "It healed, but there was probably nerve damage."

Leon snarled and got up on his feet again, leaning on his left. "You've received medical sorcery training from both Merlin and Aerith. If a healing item won't fix this, then you fix this."

"It's a surgical procedure. I can't fix it without breaking your knee all over again." Simon started. "For now, I could bind it to hold—"

"Then do it—"

"But that'll make the condition worse in the long run—"

Leon shook his head, "I just need to make it through this battle. To end this."

"Sir—"

"Simon!"

Major Simon grimaced and exhaled. "Yes, sir."

"Do it." Leon said quietly. "That's an order."

Even though he was practically emanating disapproval, Simon set about wrapping Leon's knee to hold his weight. The whole process ached and cut off some circulation to his lower leg, but it was quickly done. Leon tested it lightly before nodding to Simon, who left with the other two to return to the fray.

He started forward a third time. This time, his right leg held his weight. Taking strength from this, Leon lifted the Gunblade and picked up the pace, transitioning to a run toward the battle. Fire or no fire, rain or no rain, the Heartless were tearing his soldiers apart.

Private Young bounced back away from a stag Heartless, wrestling out of her jacket, which was on fire from residual contact with a flaming tree. Slinging it aside, she wrestled a grenade from her belt and pulled the pin, throwing it toward the main mass of Heartless. Leon ducked behind a tree as the grenade detonated, and then he slid back out and drove the Gunblade into a passing Heartless that had been flung in his direction from the blast wave.

"Where's Banks?" He yelled over the thunder.

Young glanced at him, eyes widening slightly at his bloody appearance. "West end of the cave. They're going to cause a cave in to block the Heart from the darkness."

"The spells—" Leon said.

Young shook her head.

He cursed again and moved through the melee toward the cave. Two enormous bear Heartless, each nearly 15 feet tall, were barreling through soldiers like they were blades of grass. Leon sidestepped their trajectory and swung the Gunblade baseball-style at the nearest one's legs. The blade caught one front foreleg and drew blood.

The beast couldn't stop its momentum at this point, and Leon jerked the blade up, cutting across its thick side as it passed, before driving the sword low again to slice through its lower flank. The bear roared and rounded on him. Bringing up a claw, it swung around like a furry bat of death, ready to decapitate him in one blow.

Thinking quickly, Leon shifted his footing to brace for a counter attack. His right knee protested, so he reversed his stance and shifted his grip on the Gunblade. He launched forward to meet the Heartless, extending the Gunblade up and into the monster's chest.

The blade pierced the fur and penetrated into the hollow chest cavity. The Heartless's roar of anger was abruptly cut off as its life ended. Leon tore the sword free and hastily moved aside to avoid the collapsing carrion. The second bear was turning to attack as well, but Leon didn't have time for that.

While the Heartless was confused, Leon closed the rest of the gap to reach Major Banks and the rest of the soldiers who were working to collapse the cliffs. Banks had also discarded her jacket, and the entire left side of her face was bloody. She was directing the soldiers with wide gestures, her words lost in the thunder and gunfire in the thicket of the battle.

She turned and met eyes with Leon as he approached. She glanced backward and then stepped down from the tall rocks that she had been standing on, crossing over to him.

"I thought you were dead." She greeted.

"Greatly exaggerated." Leon retorted, looking toward the cave. "Is the Heart secure?"

"It's about to be." She replied, looking over his shoulder. "We're about to—holy shit." Her eyes grew large.

Leon turned to follow her gaze.

The edge of the meadow across the clearing from the forest was lined dark and thick with bodies. Dark, rich skin standing amidst blue-black clothed figures. The Indians and the settlers.

For a long beat, the Indians and the settlers just stared, as though horrorstruck at the hulking masses of Heartless that were tearing the Allied soldiers apart. Leon saw a few of the settlers cross themselves.

"What is that?" Leon said flatly, not really expecting a response.

Banks smirked at his side. "Reinforcements."

He looked back at her. "A few hours ago they wanted to kill each other."

"Common enemy." She lifted an eyebrow, "I wouldn't question it at this point. We're in dire straits, sir. As in, neck-deep in a cluster-fuck."

The spell seemed to be broken as one of the Heartless roared, and the Indians and settlers drew their weapons, their guns and knives and their bows and arrows. Powhatan stepped to the fore front of the group, raising his staff and letting loose a loud battle cry that carried across the clearing. The rest of Powhatan's people lifted their weapons and joined in the cry, breaking from the treeline to ambush the Heartless.

The settlers took a moment longer to blink out of the trance, but then the settler named Thomas gripped his rifle and waved the rest of the settlers on, breaking away after the Indians' lead. The rest of the men followed.

Private Michael Henry appeared at Banks' other side. "Explosives are set."

Banks exchanged a look with Leon. Causing a rockslide to make the cave inaccessible would protect the heart of the world from the Heartless, but it would also make it infinitely more difficult for the Keybearers to reach the heart to permanently seal it from danger. However, the later complications that this would cause could be worried about later. Right now, Leon had to consider how dangerous it would be for the Heartless to break through the temporary protective spells. There was no black-and-white correct answer, but, strategically…

He nodded and Banks turned to Henry. "Do it." She ordered.

"Before the battle moves closer and puts more people in the blast zone." Leon added.

Henry nodded and ran off to carry out the order.

Banks drew her two short swords and looked to Leon with a dry smile.

Leon lifted the Gunblade. "Now we eliminate the rest of the Heartless."

The woman bobbed her head. "Let's fuck some shit up."

The Indians and the settlers met the sea of Heartless in a clash. Leon and Banks broke toward the fray as the rest of the Allied soldiers rallied with renewed vigor. The arrival of some fresh warriors turned the table on the balance of power in the battle.

Arrows flew through the air at the same time that muzzle flares burst from the long rifles. The Heartless fought back in a disjointed mess. Banks split from Leon's side to drive head first into the chaos. Leon hung back just slightly. Binding or not, his knee wouldn't hold against the all-out battle going on around them. Instead, he maneuvered to the supply cart and took up one of the sniper rifles. He climbed up onto the cart and lifted the rifle to his shoulder.

Adjusting the crosshairs and attaching a belt of ammunition to the weapon, Leon put the nearest Heartless in the range and fired. The bullet thundered out of the barrel, slamming into the Heartless's shoulder. As it dropped, another soldier swung his broad sword to finish it off. Swinging the sniper rifle around, he locked onto another target and popped off two more shots into a bear Heartless.

The monster stumbled and Powhatan slammed his war staff into the Heartless's skull to end it. A stag Heartless with an estimated 18-point set of antlers lowered its head and charged at Banks' back, while she was focused on two mutant raccoon Heartless. Leon swiveled his crosshairs onto the moving stag and fired three times.

The first shot clipped its flank. The second went wide and splintered through a nearby tree. The third tore through the sinewy neck of the stag Heartless, causing it to topple into a purple dead mass just behind Banks' feet. Simon was slinging out Fire spells and Walker had found a short broad sword, chopping away at the enemies.

A large wolf Heartless was prowling around the perimeter, blood dribbling over its lips and long fangs. Leon eyed it as his knee throbbed. Its milky eyes were scanning through the Allied soldiers, looking for one to pick off. Narrowing his eyes, Leon took aim at it and pinched the trigger.

The first bullet ricocheted off the beast's fore leg and it yipped, hopping back once and glaring around for its attacker. Leon squeezed off five more shots in rapid succession, hitting it until it collapsed in a dead heap.

The Indians and the settlers mixed with the rest of the Allied soldiers as they burned through the remains of the Heartless like a spark to a pile of dry leaves. This was almost over.

**..:-X-:..**

Tifa chewed on the end of her pencil, staring at the computer monitor as she scrolled through the columns of information. Yuffie had submitted her report on their mission to Olympus, and Tifa would have to read through it before signing off on it and sending it along. She was reluctant to do so…and she had plenty of other work to distract her from it for a while.

A few days ago she had received a text from Leon. A simple instruction on his next chess move, but it had made her day. Over the past few days, she had opened the message on her phone just to re-read it.

The droning figures on the screen were about to drive her to open the message again, when she saw a new e-mail message pop up on her other screen. Frowning slightly, she read the line. From Nestor regarding the MX9 Campaign. 'Nestor' made her groan, but anything about Leon's mission got her attention, so she opened it.

Scanning through Nestor's bullshit to find the real intention of his e-mail was sometimes difficult, but she had received enough in her day to translate it easily enough. The Campaign was in its final week, the e-mail said. The mission had been in a rough patch, but recent events—none of which he went into detail of—had tipped the scales in the Alliance's favor and that if things continued the way they were progressing, that the Campaign would be wrapped up within the week.

Which meant Leon and the others would be home in a week or so.

Feeling a crash of relief, she pushed her chair away from her desk, stretching her arms over her head. So close. Sooo close. A knock on her office door made her lower her head again.

"Yeah." She called, tilting her head side to side to crack it.

She had been holed up in this office all morning and most of the afternoon. Any human contact that wasn't over the phone or computer was welcome.

The door opened and a young woman poked her head in. "Ma'am?"

Tifa looked at her for a moment and then blinked. "Tabaeus?"

Private Tabaeus McCallister opened the door fully and stepped inside the office. "Good afternoon, ma'am."

"Good afternoon yourself." Tifa stood, moving around her desk. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm returning from leave." The soldier answered. "I thought I would stop by on my way to Captain Highwind's office for check in."

"That's right." Tifa said, folding her arms. "You're under Cid's flag now."

This was the first time that Tifa had seen the soldier since their escape from Project Stasis some months ago. McCallister had never really explained what had happened to her in Stasis while Tifa and Leon had been fighting their own battles in the same space. Whatever it was had driven the hard-nosed private to plead to be placed on a leave of absence. Cid had granted it to her and neither Tifa nor Leon had heard from her since, until now.

McCallister looked uncomfortable for a moment. "I just arrived on the mid-afternoon Gummi transport. I should be returning to active duty next week."

"So what have you been up to all this time?" Tifa asked casually, leaning against her desk. "Laying out on a beach somewhere?"

McCallister looked down at her richly tanned skin. Her cheeks colored slightly. "Oh…no, this is spray-on. I spent most of my leave on an undercover mission in Celestial City."

Tifa frowned, "Celestial City? That sketchy little world beyond Atlantica?" She tilted her head, "What could the Alliance possibly want there?"

The world of Celestial City could have been most accurately described as the ugly stepsister of Traverse Town. When the Heartless swallowed a world, the refugees fled to Traverse Town to be reunited with their families, their friends, and their loved ones. Other displaced peoples ended up Celestial City, to find their drug dealers, sleazy bars, and black market weapons.

Tifa had had the misfortune of being assigned to a weekend mission there once. People there barely paid the Heartless any attention. She swore that she actually saw a Heartless buying a drink there. She had been too wary to even stay in a hotel; she had lived out of her Gummi ship for the whole weekend.

McCallister waved a hand. "It was an embarrassing mess involving a bar and some blue crystals that the owner was using to drug people."

Tifa narrowed one eye, "You pulled a sting operation…on a bar owner."

The soldier sighed, "Yes, ma'am."

"What was your cover?" Tifa pressed. "A bar maid? A hooker?"

"…"

"Worse?"

"I…I had to get close to the perp."

"…A hooker?"

McCallister hung her head. "There was leather involved." She confessed.

Tifa covered her mouth to hide a smile, embarrassed for the woman. "So…you went from being Leon's number one side kick to…being a bar owner's personal dominatrix?" She snickered, "Did…did he…tip well?" She snickered.

McCallister folded her arms across her chest, averting her eyes, "He was drugging his customers with a blue crystal that was destroying their immune systems." She defended herself.

"So you took him down." Tifa nodded.

"He touched me, so I shot him." The soldier answered simply.

Tifa bobbed her head approvingly. "Dignity restored, but I'd still get checked out by a doctor." She snorted. "Some vacation."

McCallister frowned, "I regretted leaving the Alliance as soon as I stepped off the Gummi on Celestial City. I'm not cut out for vacation. I'm not good at it."

A mark of any Leon intern, Tifa inwardly chuckled.

"Celestial City is outside the news range of the main Alliance." McCallister subtly changed the topic. "What have I missed?"

Tifa pursed her lips in thought. "The Heartless have been going further out of Radiant Garden to other untouched worlds. There's currently a campaign in another world going on to try and stop the Heartless from taking it."

"I thought I read about that in the public minutes…The MX9 Campaign?"

Tifa nodded. "Leon is one of the squad leaders."

McCallister shifted slightly.

Tifa narrowed her eyes. "What?"

McCallister looked at her. "Nothing…I just…heard some rumors." She hesitated. "Is Rinoa really back?"

Tifa sighed, hands on her hips. "Yes, and the Rinoa Storm has passed."

"There was a Rinoa Storm?" McCallister squinted one eye.

Her desk phone buzzed, and her intern Holly reported, "Miss Heartilly is here to see you."

Tifa blinked, "Speak of the devil—"

"Is she like Beetlejuice or something?" McCallister tilted her head.

Tifa pushed the button her phone. "Send her up."

"You two…are friends?" McCallister looked skeptical.

"Should we not be?" Tifa snorted.

"A question for an answer is answer enough." The private said flatly.

"Okay, so it wasn't very pleasant at first, but things have calmed down." Tifa admitted.

McCallister quirked an eyebrow and started to say something, but there was a knock on the door. Before Tifa could open it, the door opened itself and Rinoa popped in. Her expression was drawn and she looked like she was either about to cry or hit something. Concern flared up Tifa's neck at her entrance.

"Oh…" Rinoa greeted, starting slightly in surprise at seeing McCallister. "Sorry, I didn't…didn't know that you were in the middle of something…"

McCallister lifted a hand. "I'm just on my way out anyway."

Tifa nodded and the soldier stepped out of the office. As absent as she had been, McCallister was still one of those people that Tifa felt a confidence in. So as the private moved into the hallway, Tifa lifted a hand.

"Call me later. We'll catch up." She said.

McCallister glanced back, and Tifa swore that she almost smiled. "Yes, ma'am." She said, closing the door after herself.

As soon as it clicked shut, Tifa turned back toward Rinoa. "What's wrong?"

Rinoa was nibbling on her fingernail, one arm folded as she stood beside one of the file cabinets. Her whole posture and behavior was making Tifa feel edgy. Something was about to be unleashed, and Tifa wasn't entirely sure she wanted to hear it. But she had to ask.

"What is it?" She asked again.

Rinoa looked at her, looked away, and looked back. "I think we need to talk."

Tifa went deadpan. "I figured."

"I…I haven't…I'm not adjusting well to…all…this." Rinoa gestured to the air around herself.

Tifa carefully folded her arms. "I'm listening."

Rinoa continued to nibble on her finger, swallowed, and exhaled. "Everything is so different. I mean…I knew that things were going to be different…but I guess…I guess I thought that some things wouldn't change."

Tifa didn't say anything.

Rinoa went on. "And I don't have anyone else to talk to…but I feel like a total butt nugget for unloading all of this on YOU—"

Now Tifa entirely did not want to hear this.

"What are you talking about?" She asked warily.

"Radiant Garden isn't…Radiant Garden anymore." Rinoa's eyes were beginning to look moist. "The building where I went to school is gone. My house where I grew up is gone. Almost everyone that I knew is gone…And those who aren't gone are…not the same."

Tifa rubbed the back of her neck. "Nobody who went through this war could possibly stay the same." She said quietly. "That doesn't mean—"

"I'm still in love with Squall." Rinoa blurted.

White queen to A3. Check.

Tifa just stared at her.

Rinoa stared back, eyes wide, red, and full of fear and shame.

"That—" Tifa started.

"I'm sorry." Rinoa's voice shot into the squeak range at the end.

"That—" Tifa started again.

"God, I can't believe I just said that." Rinoa lifted her hands to her face and sank into the chair beside the desk.

Tifa ran a hand through her hair and leaned against the wall cabinet. "Well, you did."

"You…you must think I'm…Dammit." Rinoa cursed. "I can't keep doing this. It's so…everything is so…messed up. I don't…I mean…I'm happy for you. That's what so sick. I'm happy for you both…with the house and the…the dog and the…weird furniture—"

Tifa remained quiet.

"And I know that Squall and I are over…That Leon and I are never…ever…ever…" Rinoa emphasized, looking imploringly to Tifa. "…happening, but…You know as well as I do how easily it is to fall in love with him. Now I'm back here, in the same town where we met and…everything. The same bridge where he asked me out. The same garden where he bought me flowers. The same night sky where we first kissed." She lowered her face, holding her head. "And now…"

Tifa looked at her. "No, I don't."

Rinoa paused. "What?"

"I don't know easy it is to fall in love with Leon." Tifa straightened. "I never got that chance. The war took that from me. Leon was broken and dying when we met. No bridge. No flowers. No night sky. Falling in love with him was hard and neither of us had any idea what we were getting ourselves into. It wasn't easy and that's why it's real." She said.

Rinoa swallowed hard, not saying anything.

Tifa folded her arms. "It's easy to BE in love with Leon." She deflated slightly. "And I do know what it's like to come back to somewhere that supposed to be…safe and familiar and then having that security rug ripped out from under you."

Rinoa pursed her lips and pushed her hair out of her face. "It sucks."

"It really sucks." Tifa said, feeling the steam from Rinoa's confession leaving her system.

Rinoa's face crumpled and the tears finally broke free.

Tifa watched her crumble and felt a stab of pity. Rinoa was just where Tifa had been three years ago. Tifa had eventually caught up to Cloud only to find that he had fallen for Aerith. She had spent nearly ten years travelling world to world looking for Cloud, her friends, her family. The idea of being reunited with Cloud had been the only thing that kept her going.

Now Rinoa was facing the same situation, and this time Tifa was in Aerith's position. And as much as Tifa wanted to punch her face off for even thinking about Leon, she couldn't do it. She couldn't hate Rinoa for still having feelings for Leon any more than Aerith could have hated Tifa for still having had feelings for Cloud a few years ago.

Leaning over her desk, Tifa tugged open her top drawer and pulled out a roll of antacids. She offered them to Rinoa, along with a packet of tissues. Rinoa broke into that hiccupping-gasp that accompanies crying and accepted the tissues and antacids with a low 'thank you'.

"This was supposed to be my triumphant return, but it's just been like one big train wreck after another." Rinoa shook her head.

Tifa eyed her as she wiped her eyes with the tissues. She reached out and touched her shoulder supportively. "I know a thing or two about train wrecks." She offered.

Rinoa sniffled, looking at her pathetically. "What's the damage control for them?"

Tifa tilted her head. "I'm not so much an expert on healthy damage control, but I know a good bar in Traverse Town where we could talk over drinks."

"Thank you, Tifa." Rinoa sniffed. "For listening and…for not killing me."

Tifa snorted. "Don't think I haven't considered it." She said, only half teasingly.

**..:-X-:..**

**A/N:** The undercover mission that McCallister talked about was an idea for a story that I had a while back—not involving her though—that just never came to fruition. So I just tossed it in here for funnsies. Celestial City is a world I made up waaay back in my early days. Again, thrown in for funnsies.

Everything in this chapter sets up for the next chapter and the rest of this story, so we're getting closer to the home stretch!

Constructive criticism is always welcome and appreciated!


	18. Recollect

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are Duke, Jake, and McCallister, as well as Banks, Simon, and Walker. Tifa's Jeep also makes a cameo too, if that counts as a cameo. This chapter came out a little more bizarre than I planned, but I hope it still works. Enjoy!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Eighteen: Recollect**

The Jeep was done.

Sure, the passenger side doors were different colors than the rest of the vehicle, the radio still had to be operated with pliers, and there were no back seats yet…but the engine worked and it had four tires. It could drive and that meant it was done.

Tifa stood in front of the grill of the Jeep, arms folded as she looked at it proudly. At her side, Duke sat wagging her tail.

"They said it would never run." She tutted. "They said I would never be able to fix it up."

Behind her, Jake Alms puffed on a wooden pipe. "I thought Leon did most of the fixing."

"Y'know what, Jake? Shut up." She said, tapping the hood of the Jeep. "This…is a milestone. From now on, I am a driving woman."

Duke barked supportively at her.

"All hail." Jake tipped his pipe to her before checking his watch.

Tifa snorted, moving around to the driver's side door and popping it open. The hinges squealed at her but she slid into the seat. Shifting to get comfortable, she grasped the steering wheel and looked at the dashboard panel.

"We're at T-minus two hours until loverboy comes back with the rest of the Campaign brigade." Jake said.

Tifa deadpanned. "You talk big about Leon when he's not around."

"You should hear what I say about you when you're not around." Jake exhaled smoke with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

Tifa shook her head, "Why do we hang out together?"

"Because you find my crass comments and off-color charm to be charismatic."

"You're a disgusting man-whore and you…you…fine, you're right." Tifa sighed. "Keys." She held out a hand.

Jake snickered and ducked into the garage office, plucking the Jeep keys from the nail on the wall. He returned and bowed with a flourish, putting them in her hands.

"The keys to your chariot, m'lady." He said in a mock accent and with a suggestive wink.

"Thanks." Tifa took the keys, "And ew."

Sliding the keys into the engine, Tifa slid her feet onto the clutch and brakes. This was a big moment. She had bought this thing when it was only a hunk of rusted metal held together by duct tape and popsicle sticks. It had had two tires, both flat, no glass in the windows, no air conditioning, sticky upholstery and carpet, scratched and dented exteriors, and the engine started smoking without any provocation.

Jake slipped around to the passenger side and opened the backseat door. Duke immediately hopped up into the backseats. Closing the door, Jake snorted and slipped into the front seat, pipe and all. Tifa looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" He prompted. "If anybody gets to be your first mate on this beast's maiden voyage, it's me."

"How do you figure? I'm just driving down to the hangar to meet Leon."

Jake listed them off with raised fingers. "Aerith is at work. Cloud is on a mission. Rinoa's already at the hangar. Cid's working on the security system."

Tifa bobbed her head, "Merlin is repairing some old spell books. Yuffie is…Yuffie. And McCallister is stuck pushing papers in Cid's department."

Jake's head shot up. "Tabaeus is back?"

Tifa tilted her head, giving him a teasing look.

Jake paused, shifted in his seat, and attempted nonchalance. "I mean…Tabaeus is back?" He repeated casually.

Tifa looked at him. "You're so cute."

"Shut up." Jake puffed on his pipe again. "So are you going to jump Leon's bones right there on the tarmac or are you going to at least wait until you get back to your new house?"

Tifa put on a mock-serious face. "Actually, I was thinking that we'd just…reunite…in the backseat of this Jeep."

Jake snorted and glanced back into the Jeep. "Good luck. There is zero leg room back there."

With an amused chuckle, Tifa turned the key in the ignition. "And you still want to come along?"

The engine turned over with a chug and came to life. She did a little happy dance in the driver's seat and patted the dash board fondly. Duke poked her head through the gap between the driver and passenger seats, tongue lolling.

Jake shrugged, rubbing his knuckle under Duke's jaw. "It's a way to pass the afternoon."

Tifa acquainted herself with the knobs and levers of the Jeep and pushed the stick into drive. Easing out of the clutch and into the accelerator, she felt the gear engage and the Jeep began to nose out of the garage for the first time. Radiant Garden had narrow streets, since almost everything was within walking distance, and Tifa carefully navigated the Jeep onto the road.

"So…seriously…Why are you coming?" She prompted. "And don't say that it's so you can hit on the lady soldiers. They'll castrate you."

Jake laughed. "No, no, no. I learned my lesson when I hit on that Valerie Banks, that intern of Cid's. I'm pretty sure that she's clinically insane…but the mouth on this girl—"

"Ew."

The Jeep drove smoothly over the cobblestones, although the stations on the radio changed with every particularly hard bump in the street. Duke had her head sticking out of the back seat window, ears and tongue flapping in the wind. The sky through the windshield was cloudy, ominous, and grey. The news had forecasted some scattered showers throughout Radiant Garden today, and it looked like that forecast was coming true.

The Gummis used by the Alliance were durable, tough nosed spacecraft. Rain, showers, even a tropical hurricane wasn't going to delay them from landing. Tifa wasn't worried about that. What was really on her mind was—

"Rinoa said she was still in love with Leon."

Jake plucked his pipe from his teeth. "So?"

"So…she came to ME to talk about it." Tifa pulled into the parking lot of the Allied Gummi Hangar.

Jake shrugged, "So?"

"So…that's weird." Tifa pulled the stick into park and reaching back to pet Duke. "I mean I'm…and Leon—"

"Nooo." Jake groaned, dropping his head back on the headrest.

"What?"

"Don't do the girl thing." Jake waved a hand, "Your gender always over-thinks everything."

Tifa snorted. "Over-thinking is all that I've been doing for the past two months."

"My point."

"What, as opposed to the male species, which never thinks about anything?" Tifa teased.

"Then why are you still talking about this?" Jake pressed.

Tifa paused, looking through the windshield at the Gummi Hangar. "Well, you've helped me out before—"

"I have?" He looked legitimately surprised.

"—without trying to be all sagey and wise."

"I try." He shrugged.

A beat passed and they both just looked through the windshield.

There were other cars in the parking lot. Other people were already in the hangar, waiting for their sons, daughters, friends, and other loved ones to reunite with. And while she was ecstatic to finally see Leon again and have him home, this also meant that they were going to see each other for the first time since their fight.

Duke's cold nose was at her shoulder and Tifa patted her head absently. While she had put the mess behind her and knew that Leon had had other things to worry about what with the Campaign and all, suddenly it felt like all of those concerns were ballooning back to the front of her mind. Hades, Rinoa, the couch…but even those darker spots were outstripped by the brighter moments.

Leon knowing that Tifa was a terrible cook, but the way he tolerated all of her attempts. That time that they were making out on the couch and when Leon realized where they were, he subtly but quickly moved them to the bedroom. The week when Tifa had twelve different missions on eight different worlds and was thrown up on by a homeless guy and came home to find that Leon had bought the entire Star Trek series 'on a whim'. That all-night marathon had saved her weekend. Then there was the time that Leon had a semi-nervous breakdown after Duke went missing for a week, and Tifa found him in the back seat of the Jeep on his second jar of peanut butter, and she had joined him with a loaf of bread.

Tifa found herself grinning stupidly at the wall of the hangar.

Jake looked at her and snorted. "You're such a freak."

Tifa rolled her eyes and killed the engine, opening the car door and stepping out. Jake got out as well and let Duke out of the back. The dog hopped to the pavement and circled around Jake's legs before crossing over to Tifa. She chuckled, running her hand over Duke's shoulders. The dog had been mopey and lethargic almost since the day that Leon had left. Tifa had caught her sleeping in Leon's room.

A low rumble of thunder rolled through the clouds overhead. A few dots of raindrops were beginning to darken the pavement around them, and Tifa could feel a few of them hitting her person. She and Jake started toward the inside of the hangar, Duke trotting at their heels.

"So…how long has Tabaeus been back in town?" Jake asked in nonchalance.

Tifa laughed, "Oh I'M the freak?"

"Got your mind off the whole Rinoa and Leon situation, though, eh?" Jake smirked. "Well…until I said that…just now…"

"There is no Rinoa and Leon situation." Tifa chuckled, "But there is a Jake and Tabaeus situation. Why don't you just ask her out already?"

Jake snorted, opening the door for her. "Oh please."

Tifa walked in, followed by Duke and then Jake. "Why not? You're obviously into her. And her being gone has been messing with your head."

"You're sleeping with a guy who tore your couch to shreds." Jake snapped.

"Not changing the subject." Tifa shook her head pompously.

"Dammit." Jake muttered.

Duke trotted over to a few kids that were waiting with their parents. They giggled at the dog and chased her around.

"We're at T-minus one hour and twenty-five minutes." Jake observed. "How long does it take to fly from MX9 back to Radiant Garden?"

"Like…half an hour in warp." Tifa replied. "I bet they haven't even taken off yet."

"Wonder what ol' Leon is gonna think about you moving into the house and out of the apartment all on your own without him." Jake teased.

"We'll figure it out." Tifa patted his arm.

"And did he ever verbally forgive you for the whole Hades thing?"

"We'll figure it out."

"And then there's that hideous furniture."

"We will figure it out."

"And what if Rinoa decides that she DOES want to win Leon back?"

"Then you will have to help me dispose of a body."

Jake snickered.

Duke barked, skipping around the kids and darting over to a group of soldiers. One of them bent down to pet her, and Tifa recognized that to be Tabaeus McCallister. The private petted the dog and glanced over, spotting Tifa and Jake. She waved. Tifa returned the wave. Jake followed her eyes and abruptly turned away.

"Oh, hey, look, there's the person…with the thing…" Jake walked away from her.

McCallister made her way over, Duke weaving around her legs and keening for more attention. "Hey, was that Jake?"

Tifa looked to her side to see that the man had vanished. "Or the ghost of him." She looked back to McCallister. "What are you doing here?"

"I…put in for a transfer." The soldier said, the rare, tentative smile touching her lips.

"Tran—but you just got back to Radiant Garden." Tifa blinked.

McCallister rubbed her head, "No, a transfer back to Commander Leonhart's department. Captain Highwind is…great, but I'm not an aeronautics person. I don't belong there. I belong with…guns and bullets and heavy weaponry."

"D'aw." Tifa smiled. "Well, here's hoping it goes through."

"Yeah…Oh, I thought I saw Rinoa across the way." McCallister gestured. "So you two are really okay? Like, friends?"

"Well…I don't know about 'friends', but I'm not going to kill her or anything."

"Even though she still has feelings for Commander Leonhart?"

Tifa looked at her.

McCallister shrugged, "The walls are thin and I hadn't walked very far."

Tifa paused, tilted her head, and shrugged. "Fair enough."

"I also heard that he destroyed your couch and you two bought a house."

"Why do people always mention the couch first?"

"Because you two buying a house was just a matter of time." The private said.

"And Leon has always hated that couch."

"Yeah…but tearing it apart with his bare hands? That's impressive."

Tifa chuckled and knocked her shoulder. "It's good to have you back, soldier."

**..:-X-:..**

The Allied camp in Jamestown was completely torn down by that afternoon. After the Indians and settlers joined in, the battle had quickly ended thoroughly and decisively. Their motley crew of allies had shredded through the remaining Heartless, but not before another Heartless made a try at Leon's leg and Simon took a set of antlers to the back from a stag Heartless.

Which was why both Leon and Simon were being forced on the sidelines while the rest of the squads packed away the supplies and loaded the cargo into the Gummi ships.

"First thing I'm going to do when I get home…" Simon chimed as the medical team changed the bandages on his back. "…is eat a big, greasy cheeseburger and drink a liter of chocolate milkshake."

Leon didn't reply, already elbow-deep in the first of many logistics reports on his laptop, keeping his right leg straightened out with a bag of ice on it. The only way that the medic had convinced him to sit out of helping the soldiers load the ships was the idea of getting a jump start on the reports. Sitting around and doing nothing was unacceptable. Especially when half of the soldiers in the squads had some kind of nonfatal injury.

However, healing potions and spells had worked on those broken bones and lacerations. For some reason, those things had healed Leon's knee but his leg still wouldn't hold his weight or bend without clicking painfully. It was infuriating. Simon had come to the conclusion that the already-present nerve damage had been worsened by Leon's rejoining the battle, and that the potions and spells had made the injury heal improperly.

And if that was true, then the only way to fix it would involve surgery and physical therapy. That news made Leon nauseated. So since the battle had ended a few days ago, he had been forced to use a crutch to walk around the camp. Embarrassing.

Lieutenant Walker had rendezvous-ed with both the Indians and the settlers. The tension was still there. The dislike and unease was all still there, but since Radcliffe had been removed from power and Pocahontas had spoken more openly and passionately to both parties, the temporary truce was holding.

John Smith had survived his gunshot wound, but Leon hadn't been able to go see him. He had heard that a group of settlers had decided to return to their home country across the ocean to report their findings to their king while the rest of the men began to prepare their little fort to be a fully fledged colony village. The Indians were all supportive of the settlers leaving, but the overarching goal of the settlers for making permanent residence in the New World was leaving a sour taste in the Indians' mouths.

Leon couldn't say he blamed them there.

"What about you, sir?" Simon was asking.

Leon blinked and looked at him. "What?"

"What's the first thing you're going to do when you get back to Radiant Garden?" Simon repeated.

"Um…" Leon paused. "I haven't thought about it."

Simon shrugged and then grimaced from the pain the movement caused.

That was a lie of course. Leon couldn't think enough about what he wanted to do when he got back home. It was the big reason why he wasn't done with this infernal first report already. First and foremost, he just wanted to be able to walk off that Gummi without needing a crutch or a walking cane or, Lord forbid, a wheelchair.

After that, he just wanted to see Tifa. He wanted to just look at her, hear her, hold her. He wanted to hear her laugh and smell the shampoo in her hair. He wanted to hear her blubber through a sloppy but entirely heartfelt 'hello, sorry, I'm trying not to be embarrassing'. He wanted to see her smile.

Then he wanted to see their apartment…or their house…wherever the closest hot shower and bed were. Then he wanted to see Duke and let her know that he hadn't abandoned her. Then he wanted a hot shower, food with red meat in it, followed by sprawling out in bed with Tifa and sleeping the sleep of kings.

"Tea."

Leon and Simon both blinked as Banks walked over with her pack on her back.

"Pardon?" Simon started.

"I'm going to drink some real tea. None of this ass slop that those settlers were trying to pass as tea." She snorted, producing a brown packet from her bag. "I brought some of the real stuff from home for emergencies, but since this Campaign is just about wrapped up…I've got three servings in here." She offered.

"Tea actually sounds like a good idea." Simon said.

Banks bobbed her head and looked to Leon.

Leon shrugged. "Whatever."

Banks bobbed her head again and went to whip up the tea.

Leon went back to staring at the half-finished report on his computer screen and groaned, closing the laptop and looking out across the camp. There were no more structures left up, just a few large crates that needed loading. The soldiers were back in casual clothes for the flight back, and most of them were lounging around, enjoying some victorious cigars or card games until departure time. He spotted Lieutenant Walker sauntering over from the edge of the camp, the slender figure of Pocahontas walking beside him.

The daughter of Powhatan looked serious and perplexed as she entered their camp. A few of the soldiers looked over at her curiously as she walked past. As Walker and Pocahontas neared Leon and Simon, the medics finished with Simon's bandages and looked to Leon. He waved them off. There was nothing they could do at the moment about his knee. They shuffled on to the next patients.

"Leonhart, Simon." Walker nodded in greeting.

Leon grunted and Simon tipped an invisible hat.

"Is everything all right?" Leon asked Pocahontas.

The woman pursed her lips. "I wanted to thank you for helping us, both my people and the outsiders…in defeating those creatures."

"We just cut off their power supply." Leon clarified. "Your people are going to need to keep an eye on things…The Heartless aren't gone. They're just…regrouping."

Pocahontas inhaled and exhaled slowly. "I understand. The path of hatred led them here. And only the road to peace and friendship will lead them away from these lands."

"Something like that." Leon shrugged.

"Sorry to hear about Smith." Simon said. "I heard he's on his way back to the settlers' home country."

Pocahontas looked saddened. "Yes…It…was his greatest chance." She looked past them to the large Gummis on the treeline. "You're all leaving as well?"

"A small division will be staying to keep an eye on the heart of the world until King Mickey or another Keybearer comes to seal it properly." Walker explained.

Pocahontas nodded slowly, absorbing that alien information.

"Well, I wish you safe travels." She said, looking to each of them. "And you are always welcome here."

She extended a hand, awkwardly, as though she was new to shaking hands, to first Walker, who took her hand and kissed it, then to Leon, who simply shook it, and then to Simon, who did the same.

Then, with that, she turned, dark hair whipping around her shoulders, and left the camp to return to her people and the damage control she was most likely in charge of.

"Quite a woman, right there." Simon acknowledged.

Walker had tugged out a thick cigar and was promptly lighting it. He puffed on it and breathed smoke. "Congratulations, boys, mission accomplished."

"Lieutenant." Banks greeted, carrying over three mismatched cups of steaming tea.

"Ah, Valerie." Walker nodded.

"Sorry I didn't know that you were coming back so soon or I would have…Ah, hell, there were only three servings to begin with." She divvied the cups to Leon and Simon.

"Thanks." Simon said, sipping at the cup.

Leon had lifted his own cup, but paused halfway when Simon choked and spat the stuff out. He coughed a few times and stared into the cup.

"Ugh, what is this?" Simon rasped.

"Tea." Banks tilted her cup back for a long drink. She swallowed and smacked her lips together loudly.

"This is NOT tea." Simon held the cup away from his person.

They both looked to Leon, who still hadn't gone for a sip.

"How do you mess up tea?" Simon went on. "You're one of Cid Highwind's interns. I've heard legendary stories of the tea in that department! I heard it could regrow a limb…not destroy part of my soul."

Banks snorted. "You're a wuss." She looked to Leon. "What's your verdict?"

Leon looked down into the tea. "Right now, it's just fear."

Simon snickered at that.

Banks glared at Simon. "Shut up and drink your damn tea."

She drank more of her own cup and got pulled into a conversation with Walker and another soldier about the flight back.

With her back turned, Simon leaned over and dumped the rest of his 'tea' into the grass beside his seat. He shot Leon a secrecy look and then got back to…whatever he had been doing.

Curiosity got the better of Leon and he gave the tea a tentative try. It was hot and steamy, all right, but it hit the back of his mouth like a hammer to the teeth, and he had to swallow hard to avoid mimicking Simon's earlier choking spectacle. He lifted a hand to his mouth and carefully moved his laptop out of spitting range.

Walker and Banks soon ended their conversation, and Walker began to assist Simon up and toward the Gummis. Banks tutted at Simon's empty cup and looked to Leon.

"Well, we've loaded all the cargo, and people are starting to take the good seats, so—"

"What's in this?" Leon sipped at it again, with the same molar-grinding result.

"Hot water. Store-bought tea bag. Some honey for flavor." Banks shrugged. "And a hit of tequila each."

Leon squinted one eye at her. "So, honey for flavor, and tequila for…"

"Generally inebriating purposes." She nodded sagely.

"What?" Simon snapped, not quite out of hearing range.

"Relax, Nancy. Don't get your granny-panties in a knot." Banks grumbled.

Simon looked scandalized, but let Walker help him the rest of the way into the Gummi. Banks shook her head in his general direction before looking back to Leon.

"So…I'm not big into fluffy shit." She remarked, "But it was pretty awesome to share a battlefield with you these past two months."

Leon looked at her and managed a half-smirk. "And you…definitely kept things interesting."

He absently took another sip of the tea and subsequently choked on it.

Banks chuckled and held out her cup. "For the fuckin' win."

Leon looked at her and sighed, clinking his cup against hers. "For the fuckin' win."

She chugged the rest of her tea like a shot, picked up Simon's cup, and returned to the loading area to finish helping them move the cargo.

Sitting up a little more, Leon had to use both hands to lift his leg from the chair and set his foot on the ground. The motion forced his knee to bend and it sent ramrods of soreness up and down his leg. He hissed and grasped the edges of the chair for a moment until it passed. Re-gathering himself, he straightened and maneuvered up out of the chair and onto both feet.

He leaned his weight dependently on his left leg and took up the single crutch that he had taken to using. Sliding his laptop in the shoulder bag, he lifted that up and used his spare hand to pick up the cup of tea. Already exasperated from the mere act of standing, he made his way to the Gummis and managed to get into the ship without wiping out or looking overly pathetic.

Simon was gingerly sitting next to some other wounded soldiers, looking disapprovingly as Leon continued working on the tea.

"How can you still drink that? Pretty sure a lobe of my liver just shriveled up from that sip." The major protested.

Leon smirked and sat down, setting the crutch aside and rubbing his knee to ease the ache in the joint. He could feel Simon glaring as he took another drink, finishing off the tea.

"Never knew you were pro-prohibition, Simon." He remarked.

"I am when it involves superior officers on an active mission." Simon tutted.

A few of the soldiers looked over at Leon, who sighed.

"It's tea—"

"—quila!" Simon added.

Banks stepped up into the ship. "Relax, John. I've got enough for everybody."

"That's not the problem I'm having with this." Simon pouted.

Leon set the cup aside. "Banks, no. Spiked tea is one thing, but not—"

"Leonhart nearly got a leg ripped off," Banks said to Simon. "You nearly got run through by Bambi's father. And I haven't gotten laid in two months."

Another soldier straightened down the line. "Ma'am, I could help with—"

"By my husband, douche-nozzle." Banks snapped.

"Someone agreed to marry you?" Simon gawked.

Leon snorted.

Banks looked over at him with raised eyebrows.

Leon shrugged. "My leg nearly got ripped off. I have to laugh at someone's expense."

"Was there threatening involved? Blackmail?" Simon teased her. "Is he still alive?"

Banks' sharp—and probably creatively-phrased—retort was cut off as the pilot poked his head in. "Everybody take a seat and buckle up. We'll be taking off in a few minutes."

Walker took a seat across from Leon and put out his cigar. "First thing I'm doing when I get back…Not being around those two for a while."

Leon smirked and opened his laptop again to make another attempt at the report.

**..:-X-:..**

**A/N:** Two more chapters to go. The idea of Tifa and Jake being actual friends is starting to grow on me. Their banter is fun to write. And Banks's tea line was loosely based on Cid's line in FFVII.

Constructive feedback is always welcome and appreciated!


	19. Return

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are the various soldiers scattered in here, Jake, Duke, and McCallister.**

**This is the penultimate chapter, and the scene that I have been wanting to write since I got the Lefa bug. That's right, I've been planning it that long. All of my previous stories and oneshots featuring this pairing have been in preparation for the end of this story. So with that said…Enjoy!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Nineteen: Return**

By the time the MX9 Campaign reached Radiant Garden, the light rain had turned into a torrential downpour, running in streams from roof tiles, flooding gutters, and soaking the hangar tarmac. The sky had darkened from mildly overcast to the color of wet cement. Not exactly the sunny, shiny, joyous atmosphere that most of the soldiers in the campaign had hoped for on their return from two months away, but to Leon, Radiant Garden could have been painted entirely pink and it wouldn't have mattered.

Looking out the window, he was able to make out the field area where the hangar was. The lights from the town were sprinkled around it, getting closer as the ships descended. The other warriors around him were shifting restlessly, just as ready as he was to get back on solid ground and get out of this ship.

"Attention, passengers. We are now coming in for a landing in Radiant Garden." The pilot chimed playfully over the intercom. "We ask that you please return your tray tables to their upright and locked position, and please make sure that your seatbelts are fastened. Thank you for flying Allied Air."

Across the hold, Banks rolled her eyes and Simon snorted before wincing and rubbing his chest. Leon closed his laptop—half of the first report was still progress, right?—and put it back in his bag. His knee had gotten stiff again during the flight from Jamestown to Radiant Garden, but it didn't feel as weak as it had before. He might be able to make it without the crutch if he walked slowly enough.

Tifa would know something was up either way, but at least without the crutch, he could still fool most of the others. He felt the shuddering bump of the ship's landing gear touching down on the concrete. Cid's interns were just as rowdy, loud, and obscene as Cid was, but they knew how to fly and land aircraft. As the ship taxied toward the hangar, Leon leaned back in his seat, drawing a breath.

This was it. Finally. Two months away. God, he missed Tifa. He hadn't realized how much until the tires of the Gummi touched down. Now, if he was in this ship for another minute, he was going to tear a new door in the side of it just to get out and find her. Thunder rumbled outside and rain lashed against the body of the ship.

After what felt like half an hour, but could only have been two or three minutes—the ship came to a complete stop and the back hatch clicked and hissed open. Immediately, the soldiers around him unlatched their seatbelts, clamored to their feet, grabbed their bags, and were heading for the light at the end of the ship.

Leon, closer to the nose of the ship, followed suit, if a little slower. By some miracle, his knee held when he stood on it, and continued to hold as he picked up his bag and began to make his way to the exit. Feeling a minor relief there, he stepped out and onto the wet concrete tarmac. Freezing rain immediately assaulted him.

Completely soaked after just fifteen seconds in the open air, he blinked through the rain to the mass of bodies around him. For every one returning soldier, there seemed to be three people waiting to reunite with them. Under the sound of the rain and cheerful reunions, he thought he heard a dog barking, but it was too distorted to identify as Duke's or not.

Wishful thinking probably.

He spotted Yuffie, who had perched herself on Jake Alms' shoulders, waving her arms manically to get his attention. She was actually wearing a jacket, but that hadn't stopped her from looking like she'd just climbed out of a swimming pool. He raised a hand in a little returning wave to her. Cid was probably in the hangar, trying to clear space in the large building to park the Gummi and let people get indoors and out of the rain.

Valerie Banks suddenly bolted past Leon, shooting through the crowd like a bullet from a gun. Leon traced her trajectory to a tall, barrel chested man who had his arms spread wide and his smile even wider. She flew into his arms and he spun her in a circle with the embrace. A few nearby people shuffled away from their violent reunion. As her husband set her back on her feet, the couple immediately started kissing and clinging to each other.

Leon moved away and continued to scan the crowd. This time, when he heard barking, he could tell it was Duke. Somewhere. And if he found Duke, he would probably find Tifa. Limping through the mass of people, he caught a flash of black hair near the side of the hangar and double took. His eyes locked onto the flash and he recognized Rinoa, standing near the hangar with Aerith and Cloud.

For just a moment, Rinoa straightened, her eyes got wide, and she looked as though she was about to barrel through the crowd Banks's style, but she just as quickly refrained and offered a little wave instead. As with Yuffie, Leon returned the wave. Aerith raised an arm over her head in a wave too. Leon considered going over to them to ask where Tifa was, but before he could convince his bad leg to take a step, Cloud merely pointed to his right.

Leon turned to follow his gesture just in time to see the blob of a soaked golden retriever charging at him. Unable to brace himself in time, the dog launched itself at him and hit him in the chest, tackling him to the wet pavement. His knee buckled and he rolled with it, dropping his bag and catching the dog.

Duke barked once and then started keening, pawing at his shoulders and licking his face repeatedly. He choked and tried to avoid the licking, but Duke would have none of it and continued her attack on him.

"Gah, Duke, stop—" But he only half-heartedly swatted her away.

Still keening in her throat, Duke hopped up and ran around him once before jumping on him again and pushing her head against his throat. Leon managed to sit up against her assault, running a hand over the fur of her back. Her tail flapped madly, making her entire spine wiggle and throwing water off her fur in the process.

Most of the soldiers and their loved ones had reunited at this point and were moving into the shelter of the Gummi hangar to resume their hugs and such. A few little families were too excited to move from their rain-soaked places, however, and damned the weather in favor of staying where they were. The other ships were just coming to stops outside the hangar as well, ensuing another slew of smiles, waves, and flying-tackle-glomps.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry I left." Leon tried to placate Duke.

The canine jumped off of him, barking once right in his ear and running around him in three quick circles, hopping over his legs. She stood over his legs and continued to making that whining noise in her throat, pressing herself against his chest. Leon stopped fighting her and just put his arms around her, ruffling her fur and getting a faceful of wet dog smell.

"I promise I'm not going anywhere for a long time." He assured Duke. "Okay? I'm home. I didn't abandon you. I'm sorry." He found himself rambling.

"Looks like somebody missed you." A voice said.

Leon looked up to see that Aerith had made her way over to him, holding a yellow umbrella over her head against the downpour. He glanced around her, but Cloud was still under the overhang of the hangar, talking to Lieutenant Walker. Rinoa had disappeared.

"Yeah…there's one accounted for." Leon said, maneuvering out from under Duke and up onto his left knee, keeping his weight off of his right.

"Welcome home." Aerith gripped his shoulder with a smile. "She's been a mess without you." She looked to Duke.

Leon looked at his dog, who was nowhere near calming down yet and continued to romp around him, whining and yipping as she did so. "Yeah…Have you seen Tifa? Where is she?"

Aerith paused, blinked, and looked around. "I just saw her talking to Private McCallister, not ten minutes before you landed…"

It only mildly registered that that meant McCallister was back. His mind was more focused on where Tifa was. He carefully nudged Duke aside so that he could maneuver back onto his feet, gingerly standing on his right leg as well as his left. If Aerith noticed the sensitivity of his right leg, she didn't point it out.

He looked around again as Duke weaved around his legs. Major Simon was already in the hangar, talking to Merlin and Cid. Yuffie had climbed off of Jake and was talking animatedly to McCallister, who was pointing in random directions in the crowd.

"Come on, let's get out of the rain. She's here, I know," Aerith assured, taking up his shoulder bag from the ground. "We just have to find her."

Leon wiped some of the rain from his eyes as another peal of thunder rolled through the low lying overhead clouds. He was reluctant to move from where he was. The weird mentality of 'when lost, remain where you are until found' had settled over him, but Aerith had a point. Catching pneumonia at this point wasn't going to help anything.

So he allowed her to tug at his wrist and steer him toward the hangar. He nearly tripped several times over Duke, who couldn't decide if she wanted to trot along beside him, behind him, or in front of him. Despite the cold rain and the chilly air, Leon's skin felt hot and he could feel his heart pounding in his ears. His patience was quickly running out. With every face that wasn't hers. With every calling voice that wasn't hers. With every waving arm that wasn't hers.

Then, like a flash light cutting through darkness, there Tifa was.

Leon abruptly stopped walking, and Aerith paused, glancing back at him. Tifa was standing far off to the side of the hangar, exactly like where Cloud had been pointing earlier. She was completely drenched by the rain. Her hair was plastered to her skull, and water was practically running off her shoulders and dripping from her clothes. She was staring right back at him, looking just as momentarily paralyzed as he felt. And in that moment, just making eye contact with her, he knew with certainty what his brain had been trying to tell him all along.

He wanted to marry this woman.

He had to marry this woman. He needed to wake up next to her in the morning and fall asleep next to her at night. He wanted to be with her in their new house. To have kids. To grow old together. Come hell or high water. Through sickness and in health.

And he wanted that right now.

Knee be damned, he broke away from Aerith and Duke at the same time that Tifa abruptly started through the dissipating crowd toward him. The rest of the faces in the crowd dissolved, like pawns being shuffled aside. Rooks and bishops and knights were side-barred as they closed the gap between them.

Duke was barking behind him, and the rain continued to fall. Leon's knee was killing him, but he ignored it, forcing it to hold. Tifa moved faster than he did, navigating around the last of a group of soldiers before coming to an abrupt stop in front of him. As though for a moment, she had no idea how to proceed.

Luckily, Leon knew exactly how to proceed.

He reached her in two short strides and managed to get one arm around her shoulders. At that point, his knee wouldn't take it anymore and he dropped, partially dragging her with him. Tifa hit her knees first and immediately reciprocated, locking her arms around his back and pulling him to her the rest of the way.

Recovering from the fall, Leon put his other arm around her. Their noses and foreheads crashed together in the frenzy, and this was only corrected when Tifa's hands found either side of his head, turning his face so that they could kiss properly. He kept a firm hold around her ribs, not letting her lean away so much as an inch as he returned the kiss.

"I love you." Her voice rattled between their lips. "I'm sorry…for all the—"

"Shut up. I love you too." He blurted back at her, kissing her again.

Apologies suddenly sounded so unnecessary and awkward.

Years…God…YEARS spent constantly around each other, running missions, making jokes, dancing around the subject. Years wasted trying to keep this from happening, to remain friends—and only friends, to try and keep each other sane and alive. Years tossed around under this façade that this was only temporary, their friendship, this 'little romance', was just some relationship fueled by the gaping hole left by the war.

Dammit, he was done wasting time. He was tired of that masquerade. Tifa was his best friend and he had fallen hopelessly in love with her. All of those years of delaying the inevitable suddenly felt so foolish.

This game that they had been playing had to end. Just like that ridiculous chess game that had been going on for months, the net was closing in on them. They had run out of pawns. Bishops and knights and rooks were worthless. All of his defenses were long gone and his desire to defend himself was gone too.

"Marry me." He said, muffled by the rain.

She straightened, looking back at him with wide eyes. "What?"

He wanted to say something deep, something romantic, some way to put to words how crazy she made him feel. How she had been driving him crazy for years. How ten years of war against the Heartless felt like nothing compared to terror of not hearing the word 'yes' from her in that moment. He wanted to give some profession about how beautiful she was, and smart and funny and strong, and how he questioned every day—consciously or not—how he had gotten so lucky to find her.

But Leon had never been an eloquent person, and eloquence did not have mercy on him now either.

Because there weren't words. He couldn't possibly describe to her why he loved her. Because it didn't make sense. She was a horrible cook. She cried at the most bizarre movies. She had abysmal taste in furniture. She snorted when she laughed. She was only ticklish right at the base of her neck. She refused to wear make up. She had the right hook of a 40 year old seasoned veteran sailor. She could eat a whole banana pudding by herself. She looked gorgeous in a green dress but she looked even sexier in just one of his t-shirts. She mixed the meanest drinks known to man.

She refused to cry regarding anything in real life. She held grudges and she was slow to forgive. She was stubborn and completely irrational sometimes, to the point that she would go down with the ship before admitting that she was wrong. She had proposed to him months earlier in some fit of adrenaline or panic, and all of her sense seemed to go out the window when emotions were involved.

But love wasn't logical, and he thanked God for that.

"Marry me, you nut." He repeated. "Because I can't do this anymo—"

"Yes." She interrupted with a smile. "Yes, you idiot! Of course I'll marry you!"

Then, much like Duke had, Tifa tackled him the rest of the way to the ground. Unlike with Duke, Leon had no problem with her trying to kiss him.

The rain continued to pour down over the tarmac as they embraced. It washed away all of the dirt that had happened before the Campaign. None of it mattered. It was in the past, and the past should remain in the past. Some things from the past could be resurrected: the ability to trust someone who's hurt you, the faith that love could be real, the belief that you deserved to be loved. Other things remained where they were left: old flames, old hurts, old memories that used to keep you balanced.

Leon and Tifa disentangled themselves long enough to get back to their feet. The abuse since leaving the Gummi had rendered his knee nearly useless at that point, but Tifa didn't say anything about it, merely taking his arm around her shoulders to support him as they made their way out of the rain and finally under the roof of the hangar where the others were.

An odd thought suddenly occurred to him.

"I don't have a ring—" He muttered.

"I don't care." She shook her head, sending little droplets of water in all directions and proudly wearing a big smile.

And he couldn't decide if it was tears or rain running down her face. So he just kissed her again, all too aware that he wasn't just kissing his best friend or his girlfriend anymore. He was kissing his fiancé. This game was over. Won.

**..:-X-:..**

So this was what a happy ending felt like.

It was really that simple.

The sound of the rain pounding on the roof of the hangar was louder than the actual thunder, but Tifa couldn't hear any of it. After two months of only hearing her own doubt, Aerith's advice, Rinoa's confessions, and Hades' words echoing in her head and fighting for dominance in her thoughts, all that she could hear in that moment was her own pulse in her ears.

All she could feel was Leon's arms around her, refusing to let her go.

All she could taste was his mouth as he kissed her.

All she could see was his eyes staring back into hers.

It was like a scene from an old movie. Finally. After years of missing the mark, of the delayed timing, of mistakes and bloopers and implausible circumstances, they had finally earned their movie scene. In all of its cheesy, borderline cliché-ness. She would take it. She would take all of it.

The kiss in the rain. The proposal muffled by the overhead thunder. The playful name calling. The dog circling them as soon as they got to the hangar. Their soaked states. The way Leon tried to cover up some kind of leg injury. His smile.

God, his smile.

In all her years of knowing him, Tifa had only seen Leon smile a very small number of times. And it was always as though it had slipped out on accident. Oops, you caught me in the act of being happy. Quickly flattened by pursed lips or covered by a hand to hide it.

Not today. No, sir, she had earned that smile and he was giving it to her full blast.

"Oh, get a room." Yuffie chirped, leaning against a box of unloaded cargo.

Duke barked. Her ears flattened against her head and she romped once around Yuffie before bouncing back to Aerith as if to say 'lookie, lookie, lookie who's back!'

"Some welcome home." Cid flicked the butt of his cigarette out into the rain with a snort. "I heard you all kicked some Heartless ass over there." He smirked.

From across the hangar, Tifa heard a female soldier yell out: "We fucked them up!"

Startled, she looked over to see one of the drenched soldiers from the Campaign standing next to a large man and Private McCallister, who looked shocked at her colleague's language. From the same direction, the well-postured Lieutenant Walker was making his way over.

"Good to see no reunion was left un-submerged by the deluge." He nodded toward the heavy rainfall outside the hangar. "Miss Lockhart, a pleasure to finally meet you."

Tifa had never met the lieutenant beyond his picture on a wall somewhere, but she shook his hand as he offered it. "Um…same here, Lieutenant."

"Leonhart, how's the knee?" He prompted.

"Yeah, what'd you do?" Tifa looked back to Leon.

He just shrugged. "Heartless." As though that was a valid answer.

And, sadly, it was.

"Well, you'll have to get that straightened out before the wedding." She teased, just because she could and, God, did it feel good.

And…like a blood hound…

"What?" Aerith stood at attention like she'd been struck by lightning.

Beside her, Cloud jumped at her sudden outburst, looking at her like she was nuts.

"Now you've done it." Leon sighed with a tiny grin.

"What?" Yuffie blinked, having genuinely missed the remark.

Just when you think have people figured out, they surprise you. Just when you think you have yourself figured out, something happens. Tifa thought that she was very aware of herself, her emotional range, her limits and what not. She had been called many things in her life, by many different people. Disciplined. Calm. Patient. Maternal. Freakishly strong.

In her years of martial arts training and generally being around personalities like Cloud and Leon, she prided herself in thinking that she had a very good sense of herself and a good grip on her emotions. Aerith was the emotional one, the fluffy one, the sweetheart and the doe-eyed girl who squealed at cute puppies and cried during sappy romance movies. Yuffie was the spaz, the one with no speech filter, who could steal your wallet without you knowing it, but couldn't lie about anything to save her life.

But Aerith had her stern moments and Yuffie had her mellow moments, so Tifa was only slightly embarrassed when, instead of repeating her statement for Aerith and Yuffie like a human being over the age of 18, she did a fist pump, struck a pose, and beamed at them.

"We're engaged!" She hollered for the world to hear.

Aerith's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and her hands flew to her chest.

"What?" It was Yuffie's turn to look like she had been struck lightning.

Aerith, Yuffie, and Cloud all, in amusing unison, looked from Tifa to Leon for clarification.

Leon lifted his shoulders. "Guilty."

Aerith squealed and the next thing Tifa knew, the flowergirl had an arm around each of their necks, pulling the two of them into an Aerith Bear Hug. Then Yuffie joined the pile with a holler, and that was the tipping point, as most of them had landed more on Leon than Tifa, and his bad knee buckled, sending them all toppling to the hangar floor.

"Finally!" Aerith popped up on her knees first. "That only took FOREVER!"

"Geez, he's only marryin' one of ya." Cid remarked with a snort, while Duke sat on her haunches between where Cid and Cloud were standing, ears lifted at the spectacle.

"Yeah, so get off me." Leon swatted away at the mountain of estrogen that had landed on him.

Tifa snorted, sitting up too. She couldn't wipe the smile off her face as Aerith and Yuffie got back to their feet and Cid helped Leon maneuver back up on his feet too. She pushed her hair out of her face and looked up to see Cloud offering her a hand. She took it and he hauled her up with one hand.

"Congratulations." He said, directly to her, with a small but sincere smile.

She swallowed with a grin. "Thank you, Cloud."

He looked sheepish for a moment as he passed her, patting her shoulder as he went to detach Aerith from her happy attack on Leon. As she watched him go, Tifa saw Rinoa by the door. She was standing with Jake and Major John Simon, but she was watching the Restoration Committee from a distance. Tifa and Rinoa briefly met eyes.

Rinoa pursed her lips, swallowed, and offered a weak smile and a wave. Tifa returned the smile gently and was momentarily entertaining the idea of going over to talk to her. Before she could decide how wise that action would be, Rinoa lifted a hand, making an absent 'get back to your party' gesture. Then she lifted a shoulder and gave a teasing wink that wouldn't have convinced anyone, and then quickly turned and left the hangar.

"—on a beach! It would be magical!" Aerith's yammering drew Tifa back to the conversation. "—and doves and big, gorgeous white flowers—"

"What?" Tifa rejoined them, sounding utterly horrified at whatever Aerith was talking about.

Cloud folded his arms and leaned sideways toward her. "She's already planning your wedding."

Leon, looking at Aerith, looked equally terrified at the woman's ideas.

Cid snorted, "Yeah, then maybe Tifa will ride down the aisle on a unicorn and Duke can be the ring bearer."

Aerith paused in her fangirling to shoot Cid a deadpan look. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Radiant Garden doesn't even have a beach." Yuffie chimed in.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Leon lifted his hands. "Stop with the…everything. No beaches or unicorns or…doves."

Cloud snorted into his fist.

Tifa sauntered up beside Leon. "Give them an inch…"

Aerith scoffed, folding her arms. "I have no idea what you mean…"

Even Yuffie balked at that. "You had a betting pool going on how long it would take them to get engaged!"

Tifa and Leon both blinked and looked at Aerith for explanation. Aerith, for her part, just tried to silence Yuffie with her eyes before looking to Tifa and Leon. "I…I have no idea what she…"

Cloud held out a hand. "And you owe me fifty munny."

Aerith swatted his hand away and he snickered at her.

Leon smirked at them and put his arm around Tifa's shoulders. She leaned against him, unable to help herself. Everything felt right again and better. Leon was home. They were engaged. They were going to get married…She and Cloud were okay again. Aerith was back to her chirpy self. Rinoa would be okay after a while.

Amidst all of the good vibes that had returned to their group, Tifa found herself more or less merely looking forward to going home with Leon—her fiancé, it was so wonderfully weird to think—and just…relaxing. He was clearly exhausted, and despite his evasive explanation about his knee, it was obviously bothering him. The idea of getting off their feet, ordering a pizza, and hunkering into their new house while it rained…all sounded better than anything romantic or over the top that Aerith was probably concocting at the moment.

"We should totally throw a party!" Yuffie announced.

Everybody in the group collectively groaned.

"It's pouring outside—" Aerith started.

"Water party!" Yuffie added.

"More like pneumonia." Cloud lifted an eyebrow.

"Or is it more like…a giant water park?"

"No…pretty sure it's like pneumonia."

"Then a few drinks? At least? C'mon!" Yuffie bounced on the balls of her feet.

"Actually, I kinda just want to go home." Tifa input.

Yuffie groaned audibly. "Well of course you do, Miss I-Just-Got-Engaged-to-Leon."

Leon raised a hand. "I second Tifa's motion."

"You would," Yuffie put her hands on her hips. "Mr. I-Just-Got-Back-from-Two-Months-Away…From…" She trailed away and huffed. "All right, fine, party poopers." She looked to Aerith, Cloud, and Cid. "But the rest of you guys—"

"Home."

"Home."

"Home."

Yuffie frowned, "Lame stickers for all of you." She looked to Duke. "What about you?"

Duke perked her ears and barked once.

Yuffie looked to Leon and Tifa. "Fine, but I'm kidnapping your dog for the night."

Leon looked like he was fighting heavy eyelids already. "All right…just post ransom by tomorrow morning." He remarked.

Aerith hugged Leon and Tifa again as they left the hangar. Leon's limp was obvious to everybody at that point, but he seemed done with hiding it anyway. As they walked across the parking lot, he suddenly snorted.

"You drove it here." He had spotted the Jeep.

Tifa tutted. "Well, of course I did. My awesome new fiancé fixed it up for me."

They reached the Jeep and she turned to see that Leon was just looking at her with an uncommonly relaxed expression.

Finding color still coming to her cheeks, she canted her head. "What?"

Without saying anything, Leon tugged her close and kissed her. Just a simple, soft peck on the lips. She returned it and looked up at him contentedly.

"Sorry I took so long." He murmured.

"Not your fault. The Heartless were—"

"No, not that. Sorry that…this…took so long." He said quietly.

She paused, just looking back at him for a long moment. "I'm sorry I took so long too."

He smiled gently at her. "You were worth the wait."

Another low rumble of thunder rolled through the clouds overhead. The rain had lapsed into a drizzle, but the color of the sky hinted at a second round of the downpour to come.

"Let's go home." She said softly.

Leon seemed to deflate a little, as though that was what he had been waiting to hear for the past hour. He nodded and gestured toward the driver's seat. She smiled and climbed into the Jeep. He moved to the passenger side, maneuvering his stiff leg into the car before closing the door. She brought the Jeep to life with a turn of the key and navigated it through the parking lot.

"Actually." Leon abruptly started, but didn't finish his statement.

Tifa kept her eyes on the road. "Actually…?"

"Would you want to make a pit stop?" He prompted.

She narrowed one eye. "Sssssure," She said suspiciously. "Why?"

"I've got an idea."

"Uh oh."

"It should still be open."

"Okay. You want to tell me where? I'm kinda driving."

"Three blocks straight and then a left." He directed.

Tifa kept the car straight, thinking through the directions to the destination, and glanced at him. "What in the world…Seriously?"

Leon looked thoughtful. "I think we've earned it." He tilted his head. "Unless you wanted to go through that mess with Aerith."

"Three blocks and a left it is." She smiled and kept driving.

**..:-X-:..**

**A/N:** Tiny cliffhanger, my apologies. I think they earned the fluffy that snuck in this chapter; I was just in a very good mood when I wrote this. One more chapter to go in order to wrap things up. Thanks to everybody who has stuck with this story!


	20. Resolved

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are Duke, McCallister, and Jake.**

**This is it, the final chapter, the big climax, the one you've all been waiting for! This story has been the ultimate ride into solidifying Leon and Tifa as a pairing. While I hope this chapter doesn't appear rushed or fast-paced, even if it does, there have been 19 other chapters and numerous prior stories to even things out. I hope you all enjoy it!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Twenty: Resolved**

Despite the cheerful reunions taking place in the Allied Gummi Hangar that afternoon, the rain continued to pound down over Radiant Garden, soaking every surface and drenching every person. The hangar slowly cleared out as people went home, to houses or cafes or bars or wherever their good moods decided to take them. Not long after Leon and Tifa left in that rust-bucket of a jeep, Aerith and Cloud and Yuffie soon followed, and Cid found the sudden quiet of the hangar to be a good change from the earlier ruckus.

He sat in his office as his interns maneuvered the military Gummis into their docking stations inside the hangar. He could see the whole floor through the large window in his office wall, and he glanced up every so often as he perused the latest files in his inbox. Duke the golden retriever had quickly broken away from Yuffie and found solace in the silence too. The dog had set herself down in front of the file cabinets. Legs stretched out and her head aimed in Cid's direction, casually watching him work while she lounged. Scruffy little mutt.

Cid struck a match and the flame cut through the dreary blues and greys of the hangar. He lit a cigarette and puffed three times on it before shaking out the match and looking down at his desk. The rain pelting the flat roof of the hangar provided a thunderous background noise that was easy to drift off to. They'd be lucky if the whole damn Restoration Committee didn't catch pneumonia from loitering out there on the tarmac.

With a snort, he flipped open the top packet of papers. The first was a transfer request from Tabaeus McCallister, wanting back into Leon's department…surprise, surprise. The private was a good soldier, she'd proven that much…but she was absolutely worthless around aeronautics. She avoided all airborne missions like the plague, and she was so damn anal about paperwork and details that Cid's other interns had nearly throttled her on occasion. Why that Nestor idiot had assigned her to Cid's department—ah, to Hell with it.

Clicking his pen open, Cid dotted the I's and crossed the T's on the request before slapping his signature on the bottom line. He shuffled that file into the outbox without further thought and moved on to other papers. Ship inventory orders, a few harassment complaints regarding some of his interns, and some other miscellaneous crap that Nestor felt compelled to send his way.

He went through about half of the stack before sitting back and taking a long drag from his cigarette. He tilted his head back and exhaled smoke at the ceiling. The wisps curled up before being dispersed by the ceiling fan. So McCallister was going back to the department where the stick in her ass matched everyone else's, Leon and Tifa were getting hitched, Rinoa was staying in Radiant Garden—in Leon and Tifa's old apartment, and Aerith and Cloud were…

"Dammit." He grimaced.

Duke lifted her head, ears perked at him. Tossing his spent cigarette into a cup of cold coffee, Cid struck a match and lit a fresh one, looking at the dog.

"I had to watch Leon and Tifa beat around the bush for four damn years." He huffed, "If Aerith and Cloud are heading down that road, then I'm investing in stronger alcohol."

Duke just yawned and lowered her head back to the floor.

**..:-X-:..**

The jeep pulled into the small lot, and Tifa moved the stick into parked gear. Due to the odd hour of the afternoon, the parking lot was practically empty otherwise. For a beat, neither she nor Leon made any move to get out of the jeep. They both merely sat for a moment, staring through the windshield at the front of the courthouse building.

"This should only—" Leon reached to open his door.

"Wait." Tifa remained where she was, hands on the steering wheel.

Leon paused and looked at her, wordlessly asking 'why'.

Tifa looked over at him. "I just need one thing before we do this."

He shifted in his seat. "Okay. What is it?"

She bit her lip for a second. "Y'know, the old…the thing with…" She rubbed her forehead.

She had never been one for the old traditions. Hell, she was foregoing a big, flashy wedding—and months of Aerith's self-appointed wedding planning—for this…Why was tradition suddenly so important? This was the only time she was ever going to get married, and she and Leon weren't following any of the rules…So maybe following one would make up for it.

"Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue." She recited.

Leon's face said 'seriously', but he verbally said: "Done."

She quirked an eyebrow, "What?"

Leon reached out and tapped the dashboard. "This jeep is clearly really old." He gestured to the steering wheel under her hands. "The steering wheel is brand new." He flicked a finger at the pliers that worked the radio. "I borrowed these pliers from Cid." He pointed a thumb toward one of the replacement doors whose color didn't match the rest of the jeep. "And that passenger side back door is blue." He smirked. "I think you're all set."

Tifa couldn't help from smiling at his logic. "Well, that's efficient." She peeled her hands from the steering wheel. "It works for me." She beamed at him. "Let's go get married."

He bobbed his head and they got out of the jeep, quickly moving out of the rain to the front door of the courthouse. They stumbled in out of the rain. She noted that Leon's limp was getting worse, but he covered it well as the door closed after them.

"Oh crap." She exclaimed, slapping at her pockets.

"Don't tell me you need a bouquet now." Leon snorted.

"No, I don't have my ID. I think…" She thought back. "I left it at the old apartment."

"You've been driving without a license?"

She shot him a sideways look and dug out her cell phone. "I'll just call Yuffie and have her bring it down here." She got an idea and snapped her fingers. "She can be our witness too!"

"Works for me." Leon shrugged, leaning against the wall to take the pressure off his knee. "Just…be careful how you phrase it."

**..:-X-:..**

If no one was going to join her, then Yuffie would make her own party.

Skipping haplessly through the puddles that dotted the cobblestones streets, Yuffie waved cheerfully at a passing couple who were huddled under a large umbrella. Honestly, it was just water. She would never understand why people were so averted to playing in the rain…

The cell phone ringing in her pocket caused her to slow in her skipping. Tugging it out, she answered without checking the caller ID.

"Y'ello?" She greeted.

"Yuffie! Hey, where are you right now?" It was Tifa, and she sounded…breathless.

Yuffie had slowed to a stop and paused, looking around, as though she expected to see Tifa huddled behind a bush on her cell phone, watching her. "I'm near the Marketplace. Where are you?"

"Something has…come up and I need my ID card. I left it in the old apartment—"

"How did you manage that? You haven't lived there in over a week…"

"Could you just go to the apartment, get it, and bring it down here for me?"

"What came up?"

"I'll explain when you get here."

" 'Kay…Gonna be hard to find you if you don't tell me where you are." Yuffie snarked.

"…You know the old bank museum?"

"Ew, why in the world are you there?" Yuffie grimaced.

"I'm not. Leon and I are at the building across the street. You'll see the jeep."

"You bet I will. That is a really ugly jeep."

"…"

"All right, all right. I'll bring it. Is the spare key still behind the name plate?"

"Should be."

"If not, I'll just have to use my mad ninja skills to bust down the door!" Yuffie did an air kick from where she was standing.

"Please don't. Rinoa is moving in there soon."

"Fine." Yuffie turned her feet toward the apartment building where Tifa and Leon used to live. "You could have called Aerith. She and Cloud were going back to Merlin's, much closer to the apartment."

"…but Aerith doesn't like to frolic in the rain like you do."

Yuffie was pretty sure that Tifa was poking fun at her there, but she didn't mind and just snorted. "A'right. I'll be there in two shakes." She hung up the phone and resumed her skipping.

Tifa was so weird sometimes.

**..:-X-:..**

Leon watched as Tifa hung up the phone and looked at him.

"She'll be here soon." Tifa reported, pushing her wet hair out of her face.

"Rinoa's moving into our old apartment?" He lifted an eyebrow. "That's a little bizarre."

Tifa shrugged. "She was having problems finding a place in Radiant Garden. Since we're moving into the new house…I figured…why not?" She tilted her head. "Does that bother you?"

"No." He answered honestly. "Just…bizarre."

She chuckled and clasped her hands behind her back. "Just think: in an hour, we'll be married and then we get to go home."

'Home' had to be one of the greatest words ever created, in Leon's opinion. They were both soaked, freezing in the intense courthouse air conditioning, his knee felt like it was being stabbed whenever he put weight on it, and now Yuffie was going to crash the party. He understood that weddings were a big deal to some: the idea of throwing that big ceremony and party together with loved ones was a huge emotional…thing.

But to him, this was just the next step. Simple as that. The bells and whistles and doves and hordes of flowers could be just as meaningful as the rainy afternoon in a local courthouse, but he preferred it this way. He and Tifa were always planning something. Overanalyzing. Overthinking. To just up and get married, in the moment, outside of the norm: it was a relief. And Tifa could never look more beautiful in a big white dress than she did as a rain soaked mess right then. She caught him looking at her and smiled.

"What?" She asked.

Instead of answering, he just smirked and looked down the hallway. Things were going to change. They had already changed. Something else that had been said during Tifa's conversation with Yuffie recurred to him.

"What did that mean, that you hadn't lived in the apartment for a week?" He prompted.

Tifa leaned against the opposite wall. "I've been staying at the new house."

"But it was empty when I left."

"And that was a few months ago." She teased.

Leon tilted his head. "You moved in without me?"

"Relax," She laughed. "I just moved in the new furniture that we ordered after it arrived, and just the odds and ends and…boxes of stuff and…"

"Basically everything?" He pressed good humoredly.

She shrugged. "Good thing I did too…because there's no way you could lug anything around with that leg."

"Hmph." He folded his arms. "Just for that, I'm not carrying you over the threshold."

"We had sex in the study room, Leon. I doubt there's really a threshold anymore."

The woman at the front desk looked over abruptly at them upon hearing that.

**..:-X-:..**

The apartment was empty.

Technically she didn't live here yet, but Rinoa had thought that coming here would provide some solace, some sense of belonging, some place of her own to be during this eventful afternoon. The bare walls and the empty rooms hardly provided such a place.

She thought that she would be okay. That she was over it, over him. In a way, she had to be. He was with Tifa: as blind as Rinoa wanted to be, she knew. They were engaged now, had a house together. She was happy for them. Really, she was. But she was absolutely miserable otherwise. What had she done to deserve this?

Holding her arms around herself, Rinoa stood in the vacant living room just inside the front door of the apartment, her new apartment. This was her new beginning. This was her fresh start. It had to be all uphill from here.

She thought that she would be okay…but seeing him there, after so long…

The tears came then. A stinging moisture springing to the rims of her eyes. She exhaled and lifted one hand, drawing her thumb across her eyes to clear the tears before they could break free. Looking sideways to try and curtail the emotion, her eyes found the only two pieces of furniture left, still waiting for Tifa or Leon to move them to the house: a coffee table and a cardboard box half-filled with magazines and books. The coffee table was clear except for the chess set resting on the left side of it.

She had walked in on the middle of the game: story of her life.

Still trying to fight the emotion clogging her throat, she took two steps over to the coffee table and looked at the chess set. The black team was in check by the white queen. She had never been an expert in chess. She knew enough to competently play, but strategy meant nothing to her. She had never been able to plan her moves ahead of time. She just never thought about 'ahead of time'.

That was why she had fallen into this mess. What had she been expecting? Leon to be waiting for her with open arms, open heart? Unchanged and blissfully forgiving of her long absence? It wasn't realistic and she felt a fool for falling prey to it. And the only person she felt close enough to talk to was Tifa…and…God…she couldn't do that.

A sob escaped before she could stop it, and the action rolled through her shoulders and made her spine quiver. Buckling, Rinoa turned and slumped to sit on the edge of the coffee table, holding her arms around her ribs and bowing her head. The tears rolled free and true, cutting tracks down her cheeks and dripping from her chin.

During all those years of navigating the worlds, of making allies and being betrayed, of fighting her way back home, of long, cold nights just trying to stay alive…and she had never felt so alone as she did in this moment. She had never let it sink in either. Now it was finally sinking in…like talons through her chest.

She shook her head fiercely to try and make it stop, but the tears kept coming and she continued to choke on them, eventually dissolving into a mess of sobs and pitiful hopelessness.

Just as she gave into it, however, the front door knob turned and opened.

**..:-X-:..**

Yuffie knew immediately that the apartment wasn't empty, but by then it was too late to try and be sneaky. So she just opened the door wide and stepped in.

"Hello?" She greeted the semi-darkness of the vacated apartment.

A whimper answered her and she followed the sound. She spotted Rinoa Heartilly doubled over, sitting on the coffee table next to a chess board. She was hugging herself and sobbing openly. As soon as Yuffie called out, however, the other woman straightened and started trying to wipe her face clean of the evidence.

"Rinoa?" Yuffie felt a spike of alarm at the woman's state. "Are you okay?"

Rinoa shook her head, hiding her face with her raised arms. "No…"

Involuntarily, Yuffie gave a sidelong glance toward the kitchen counter, where the lump of Tifa's wallet was resting. Remembering her promise to bring the ID to Tifa, Yuffie hastily crossed the room and snatched up the wallet, pocketing it before moving to Rinoa's side.

"What's wrong?" Wow, Yuffie, awesome question, dumbass, she scolded herself inwardly.

"What's wrong?" Rinoa repeated. "What's wrong _with me_?" She hiccupped and wiped her face some more, smearing her make up. "Ugh, look at me. I'm a mess."

"Yeah." Yuffie offered gently, sinking to sit beside her. "I know it's hard."

"I'm fine." Rinoa quipped, straightening and smoothing her hair back. "I just…had a weak moment. Everybody has those."

"Yeah." Yuffie eyed her. "Sure."

Rinoa sniffled a few times before looking back to Yuffie. "Am I pathetic?"

She was honestly asking.

Yuffie blinked, perplexed. "You're a freak."

Rinoa's face started to crumple again, but Yuffie raised a hand.

"We're all messes. We're all pathetic. We're all freaks." She grasped Rinoa's shoulder and shook it lightly. "S'what makes us human." She winked. "Trust me, every one of us on the Restoration Committee has had more than one meeting with our breaking points. Frankly, I'd think you were more of a freak if you weren't having a breakdown about this."

Rinoa averted her eyes. Yuffie grimaced: she wasn't helping. Dammit, she had never been good at comforting people! That was Aerith's job! Yuffie was the funny one who turned the frowns upside down; she had never been the shoulder for crying. Feeling awkward, she patted the woman on the back. Rinoa looked at the wallet in Yuffie's pocket.

"Stealing?" Rinoa swallowed thickly, less-than-subtly changing the subject.

"Oh, haha," Yuffie said sarcastically. "No, Tifa asked me to bring it to her."

Speaking of…Tifa had sounded kind of impatient. Yuffie stood and looked back. "You and me. Party. Tonight. I know the bar where all the military guys drink." She winked and made her way to the door. "We'll turn that frown upside down!"

**..:-X-:..**

Aerith and Cloud were walking on the sidewalk under the overhangs of the various businesses that stretched from the Gummi hangar to Merlin's house. Aerith had been yammering on about nothing but Leon and Tifa's engagement since leaving the hangar. She was fully aware of this and the fact that that kind of romantic stuff didn't really rev Cloud's engines like it did hers.

"I'm kind of surprised about this afternoon." She commented, touching her chin.

"Hm?" He kept his eyes ahead.

"Leon is obsessively anal about things like this." She explained. "I always imagined that he'd be one to plan out some big, romantic proposal."

Cloud deadpanned and Aerith stopped.

"What?" She looked at him.

"He proposed to her after coming home from a few months' long mission on another world, in the rain, and in front of everybody." Cloud said. "What in Kingdom Hearts passes for 'big, romantic proposal' for you?"

Color rose to Aerith's cheeks and she continued walking. "Oh, I dunno." She glanced at him flirtatiously. "Maybe flowers?"

He rolled his eyes. "Cliché."

"Wearing a suit?"

"Ugh."

"Under the starry night sky?"

Cloud shot her such a sassy look that she laughed.

"Okay, okay, so there's something to be said for spontaneity." She conceded.

"Hm."

Feeling a little uncomfortable broaching the area of romantics with the man that she was sort of, kinda, maybe dating, Aerith clasped her hands in front of her as they walked.

"Want to get something to eat? In a restaurant?" Cloud suddenly blurted. "I mean…like, just me and you? If…if you didn't have plans…" He sputtered.

Aerith stopped walking again and looked at him. "Cloud Strife, are you asking me out on a date?"

"Um…yes." He said sheepishly.

A smile split her face. "Then yes, I would love to." She turned. "There's this adorable little café down the street that serves cakes in the shapes of butterflies—" She almost heard Cloud cringe in physical pain and she chuckled. "I'm KIDDING. There's a steakhouse a block from here."

"Thank God." He exhaled in relief.

Aerith elbowed him in the ribs and they resumed walking under the overhangs.

**..:-X-:..**

Yuffie was barely through the front door of the courthouse before Tifa was wrestling her wallet from the younger woman. She dug out her photo ID and thanked Yuffie apologetically.

"No problem." Yuffie chirped, looking down the hall. "What are you guys doing here anyway?"

"Getting it over with." Leon quipped with a grin.

He and Tifa got the scandalized desk worker's attention and were given the proper forms. Yuffie's eyes widened as the gears in her head clicked into place.

"OH MY GOD!" She pointed at the two.

Tifa shushed her as she and Leon quickly filled out the paperwork. The desk worker stood to lead them to see the judge to 'get it over with'. Yuffie followed them.

"But…but…isn't this cheating or something?"

"It's efficient." Leon corrected.

"Puh-tah-toe, poh-tay-toe, Squall." Yuffie said. "But Aerith was—"

"Aerith can plan her own wedding." Tifa chuckled as they entered the judge's office. "I for one don't want to wait through a year's worth of stressful planning for something that we can just do right now."

Yuffie looked to Leon for some kind of logical reassurance, but Leon merely lifted his shoulders. "You want to be the witness?"

The younger woman stared blankly at him and Tifa for a beat. Then she pumped a fist. "Hell yeah I do!" She looked over to the judge and lowered her fist, "Sorry, Your Highness."

"Your Honor." Leon corrected.

"Whatever." Yuffie stuck her tongue out at him.

The judge, a thickly built man with a double chin but soft eyes, looked away from her to Leon and Tifa. "For the record, you are both here under your own free will and are freely agreeing to this marriage?"

Tifa and Leon exchanged a look, a smirk, and then looked back to the man. "Yes."

The judge looked over the papers and bobbed his head. "And I read here that you've opted out of any 'flowery ceremony stuff'." He quirked an eyebrow at them.

"Yes, sir." Leon answered.

"We just want to get hitched." Tifa affirmed.

"No sappy romantic stuff at all?" Yuffie piped in, "I swear, Tifa, are you sure you're a woman?"

The judge looked at her and Yuffie mimicked zipping her mouth shut and winked at him. With a sigh, he faced Leon and Tifa again.

"Everything appears to be in order…and if your witness can contain herself…We'll begin." He started.

**..:-X-:..**

"And a belated Welcome Home to you too."

Tabaeus looked up from where she was helping some of Cid's interns to organize the parts' shelves against the wall. She saw Jake Alms sauntering toward her, looking just as smug and devil-may-care as always, hands in his pockets.

"What?" She asked, not realizing that he had been talking to her.

He reached her—well, about six feet away from her—and lifted his shoulders. "Well, you just got back to Radiant Garden too, right? So…Welcome home."

She squinted one eye. "What do you want, Jake?"

Over the course of her leave of absence, she had come to miss many things about Radiant Garden: running drills under Commander Leonhart, shooting at the gun range, and sitting at a desk that didn't have Cid's interns throwing paper airplanes across her cubicle's air space. Jake Alms' cocky man-whoring hadn't been on the list.

Instead of replying with his usual quip, however, Jake looked awkwardly at her. Getting a red flag from that, she set down the clipboard that she had been using to sort the parts.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Great." He nodded stiffly, putting his hands on his hips. He abruptly folded his arms, then put his hands back on his hips, started to slide his hands into his pockets, and ended up just sort of leaning at her with his hands awkwardly placed at his belt. "I'm…great."

Utterly bewildered at his behavior, Tabaeus leaned away and started drifting back to her inventory duty. Jake had always been…different, but silver-tongued banter had always been his second skin. He was never this uncomfortable about anything. She had seen him blatantly hit on women while he was drinking a fruity mixed drink and wearing a sombrero. The man had no shame, so what was his deal?

"What do you want, Jake?" She asked again, hoping to snap him out of it.

He looked torn for a moment. "I…want…Tifa told me that….I should ask you…" He hesitated for a long beat. "…if—" He seemed to deflate. "—if the training field was reserved."

Tabaeus had an inkling that he wasn't saying something, but she was so confused that she didn't question him. "I've only been back for a week…I have no idea…but I'll look into it." When he didn't say anything else, she tilted her head. "Was that it?"

"H'yeah." He muttered.

Non-plussed, she turned to return to her work.

"Tabaeus." He took a step toward her.

She swiveled around to face him again, getting a little exasperated now. "Yes?"

"I just—" Jake inhaled, exhaled, and then sighed. "—missed you."

Tabaeus felt her face warm a little. "Er—Thank you, Jake. I'm glad to be back."

With that, Jake made a backwards retreat, tripping over a box behind him before stumbling out of the hangar, leaving a bewildered Tabaeus behind, thinking 'what a weirdo'.

**..:-X-:..**

After going through the mere 15 minute process, the judge lifted a pen. "Sign here."

Tifa signed her name first on the first line, and then Leon signed on the other line. Yuffie, who had been practically bouncing on her feet behind them, looked impatiently to the judge. The older man exhaled and smiled, offering the pen.

"And if the witness will sign here…"

Yuffie sprang forward, snatched the pen from him, and scribbled her name in a barely legible mess on the line under Tifa's squiggly writing and Leon's tiny scrawl.

"Congratulations." The judge prompted.

"I now pronounce you man and wife!" Yuffie hollered. The judge looked at her sharply, and she lifted her shoulders innocently. "Sorry, I got excited. You do the next part."

The judge shook his head at her and looked to Leon and Tifa. "Just kiss your wife."

_My wife._ Leon felt the base of his neck tingle a little, and he looked to Tifa, whose face split into a smile as well. He pulled her close and kissed her.

Checkmate.

Tifa held onto his shoulders as she returned the kiss happily. It went on for a long moment, and as the kiss drew to a close, Leon opened his eyes again. Tifa was looking back at him, her wine colored eyes shining.

"Whoo!" Yuffie cheered. "Party time!"

"No." They both replied in unison.

"Oh come ON." Yuffie dramatically flung her arms to her sides.

Right then, nothing sounded better than going home with Tifa, ordering takeout, and icing his knee as they stayed home all night.

"I think we're going home." He said as they walked back toward the front doors.

"I know we're going home." Tifa chuckled.

Yuffie huffed as they stepped out into the rain again. "Fine. Married for two minutes and you're already boring." She waved. "Enjoy your night then!" She winked and skipped off.

Leon and Tifa piled into the jeep again and Tifa turned the key in the ignition.

"I think you're going to like what I've done with the house." She prompted.

"I'm sure I will." He replied with a smile.

"Especially the furniture in the living room." She shot him a mischievous look.

He lifted an eyebrow and then narrowed his eyes. "No…not…you didn't…"

"Yes." She grinned and kissed him briefly before pulling the jeep out of the parking lot.

He hung his head. "What is it with you and that furniture?"

She just laughed as they drove home, while the rain continued to fall, like cats and dogs.

**..:-X-:..**

**A/N:** It. Is. Complete!

Thank you to all my lovely readers and reviewers who kept up with this story. Thus endeth the long journey that brought these two together! For those who have been reading my Lefa stories from the get-go, you all are awesome for sticking with me. For those who read this entire story on its own, you all are awesome for giving it a whirl.

The 'cats and dogs' line was a throwback to my first ever Leon and Tifa ficlet, _Hart to Hart_. Other references about the jeep, the couch, McCallister's transfer, the chess game, and other oddball moments were throwbacks to recurring elements in my other Lefa stories. I wanted to wrap it all up nicely.

I hope you all have enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

And, as always, feedback is welcome and appreciated!


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